In a big relief to former US President Donald Trump ahead of Presidential polls, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in his favor in the presidential immunity case, complicating at least two prosecutions against the 45th president.
“Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power entitles a former president to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the high court’s majority opinion. “And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
The ruling, issued Monday, involves the federal prosecution of Trump for challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, but it also could affect a case in Fulton County, Georgia, in which Trump faces charges of conspiracy to overturn the results of the race in the state.
The ruling complicates special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump centered on the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, as well as the Fulton County case against Trump for challenging the election outcome in Georgia.
The high court returned Trump’s federal election case to the lower trial court to determine what aspects of Smith indictment against Trump in the election case will stand. Specifically, the court ruled that Trump’s interaction with executive branch officials such as Vice President Mike Pence was official presidential authority, but lower courts could parcel out what communication with non-executive branch officials fits under presidential authority.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the 45th president—and any president—has absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts pertaining to his office. In this case, Trump’s attorneys contended that he was acting in his official capacity as president—not simply as a candidate—in fighting what he believed was a dishonest election.
