US Supreme Court sends Trump immunity case back to lower court
The US Supreme Court yesterday extended the delay in the Washington criminal case against Donald Trump on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss, all but ending prospects the former president could be tried before the November election.
In a historic 6-3 ruling, the justices said for the first time that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for their official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.
But rather than do it themselves, the justices sent the case back to the lower court to determine which acts alleged in the indictment are official.
The outcome means additional delay before Mr Trump could face trial in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith .
The court's decision in a second major Trump case this term, along with its ruling rejecting efforts to bar him from the ballot because of his actions following the 2020 election, underscores the direct and possibly uncomfortable role the justices are playing in the November election.
The ruling was the last of the term and it came more than two months after the court heard arguments, far slower than in other epic high court cases involving the presidency, including the Watergate tapes case.
The Supreme Court directed US district judge Tanya Chutkan to assess whether core aspects of the indictment are official acts and therefore shielded from immunity or are not official acts and therefore potentially subject to prosecution.
Those include, among other things, Mr Trump's hectoring of then-vice president Mike Pence not to certify the electoral votes – a core feature of the four-count indictment.
Chief justice John Roberts said the president “enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the president does is official. The president is not above the law”.
The three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – all dissented from the majority opinion.
In her dissent, Ms Sotomayor wrote :" today' s decision makes a mockery of the principle, foundation alto our constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law."