Former President Donald Trump was handed a big win on Monday when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that ex-presidents enjoy “absolute” immunity for “official acts” while in office.
“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.”
“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 added. “That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party.”
From The New York Post:
The high court’s 6-3 ruling vacated an earlier decision by a DC federal judge and cleared the way for more appeals by Trump’s legal team that could set the trial schedule in the 2020 election case against him back months or years — if it ever happens.
Lawyers for Trump, 78, who appointed three of the nine justices on the Supreme Court, unfurled a legal theory of sweeping protection from prosecution for any acts undertaken while in office in a bid to quash the four-count case against the former president.
Trump celebrated the ruling on TRUTH Social, saying “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
This story is developing…
Supreme Court affirms ‘absolute immunity’ for official acts in Trump case https://t.co/pszCmnQuZ9 pic.twitter.com/iKDdBUqVgw
— New York Post (@nypost) July 1, 2024
