Ex-President Donald Trump hailed the US Supreme Court on Monday for ruling a prez enjoys broad immunity for “official acts” in office, even though he’s not exactly out of the woods yet over the Capitol riots.
Trump, 78, had pressed the high court to affirm that a president enjoys “absolute” immunity from prosecution while he seeks to fend off charges in the 2020 election subversion case against him.
“BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” Trump declared on Truth Social.
A US district court and DC Circuit Court of Appeals had both previously rejected his sweeping arguments several months ago, but the high court overruled them Monday.
Still, while the Supreme Court said sitting presidents are protected from prosecution over their “official acts,” it left it to the lower courts to determine what falls under into category, including Trump’s conduct after the 2020 presidential election he lost.
But the incomplete ruling is still considered a win for Trump.
Regardless of how the lower courts sort out the question, Trump will have succeeded in buying time.
This is paramount for him because if he manages to push the trial start date back until after a hypothetical election victory, then he could get sworn into the presidency again and instruct the Justice Department to back off.
In Monday’s 6-3 high-court decision that broke down along ideological lines and was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court remanded the matter back to the lower courts to sort out whether the election subversion prosecution against him was covered.
“Like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity. But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution vests in him sweeping powers and duties,” Roberts wrote in a lengthy 43-page decision.
“It is ultimately the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of immunity,” he wrote at another point in his decision.
Trump has claimed that he was fulfilling his official obligations as president to inspect the legitimacy of the election when he acted in questioning its veracity.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office has rejected that and contended that Trump’s activity was for personal and political benefit — trying to overturn his electoral loss.
Trump is facing a total of 54 criminal counts pending against him spanning three indictments, including the Jan. 6 case. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in all of them. Thus far, none of them have trials scheduled.
The 45th president was found guilty in late May for the 34-count hush money case out of Manhattan. He is set to face sentencing July 11 for that case.
