Former President Donald Trump just received a major victory from The Supreme Court. This morning, the justices voted 6 to 3 that Trump is entitled to substantial immunity regarding prosecution. Their ruling is truly a statement of the power of America’s presidency.
Trump is currently facing three charges of conspiracy and one count of obstructing official proceedings. All four charges are related to his attempts to hold onto the presidency after losing to current President Joe Biden in 2020. The New York Times writes that special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump last August in one of the two federal cases the latter is currently facing. The other charge relates to an F.B.I. raid of Mar-a-Lago, the former President’s private club, in August 2022 when missing government documents were located.
The New York Times has predicted that The Supreme Court’s ruling will further delay the trial against Trump regarding a plot to sabotage the 2020 elections until after this November. The Justice’s decision sent the case back to the lower courts. There, Mr. Trump’s actions will be examined to determine if they fall under an official or private capacity. Court proceedings are often long, and this upcoming one is no exception. If the elections occur before decisions are made and Trump is victorious, he can have the Justice Department drop the charges.
Speaking for his fellow justices, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. mentioned that Trump has presumptive immunity, at least, for any official acts during his run as President. There is, however, an important distinction between official and private conduct. Any private conduct Trump committed outside his presidency isn’t granted presumptive immunity.
The ruling, as previously mentioned when discussing the votes, doesn’t sit well with all the justices. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, The New York Times state, have written that the decision is misguided. Sotomayor wrote, “The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding”.
Politics are never a “safe” or “friendly” environment to be a part of. As shown by how unhappy some of the Justices are at the results of the ruling, U.S. citizens will be taking sides on whether the Supreme Court’s ruling is justified. Either way, it’s making the election year even more interesting.
