Trump enjoys some immunity: SC

Ruling likely to delay ex-US president’s trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election

WASHINGTON:

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Donald Trump enjoys some immunity from prosecution as a former president, a ruling that will likely delay his trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

The 6-3 decision split along ideological lines comes four months ahead of the presidential election in which Trump is the Republican candidate to take on Democrat Joe Biden.

The historic case was the last heard during the court’s current term and has far-reaching implications for executive power and the White House race. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, in his majority opinion, said a president is “not above the law” but does have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official acts taken while in office.

“The president therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts,” Roberts said.

“As for a President’s unofficial acts, there is no immunity,” the chief justice added, sending the case back to a lower court to determine which of the charges facing the former president involves official or unofficial conduct. A US District Court will now hold what is expected to be a series of lengthy pre-trial hearings, making a trial before the November election extremely unlikely.

Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of an official proceeding -- the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress held to certify Biden’s victory. He is also charged with conspiracy to deny Americans the right to vote and to have their votes counted.

The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying she was doing so “with fear for our democracy.”

“Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law,” Sotomayor said. “In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”