The U.S Supreme court has issued its decision Donald Trump’s immunity claim in the 2020 election interference case.
The former U.S President is accused of overseeing a sprawling effort to subvert the 2020 election, including two counts of conspiring to obstruct the certification of the election results, conspiring to defraud the government and conspiring to disenfranchise voters.
The US supreme court ruled that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution.
In a 6-3 ruling, the justices said that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for their official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.
The court’s conservative majority – which Trump helped create – found that presidents were protected from prosecution for official actions that extended to the “outer perimeter” of his office, but could face charges for conduct undertaken in a personal or private manner.
The three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, all dissented from the majority opinion.
Writing in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that the court’s decision in the Trump immunity case “makes a mockery of the principle … that no man is above the law.”
She stated that the indictment “paints a stark portrait of a President desperate to stay in power.”
“Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent,” she added.
“The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”
Sonia Sotomayor
She warned of the “stark” long-term consequences of the court’s decision, noting that the court had effectively created a “law free zone” around the president.
Sotomayor asserted that this new official-acts immunity now ‘lies about like a loaded weapon’ for any President that wishes to place his own interests, his own political survival, or his own financial gain, above the interests of the Nation.
“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
Sonia Sotomayor
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, criticized the supreme court’s “disgraceful” decision, adding that the ruling “undermines SCOTUS’s credibility and suggests political influence trumps all in our courts today.”
To determine whether Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results came under the protected auspices of his official duties, the supreme court remanded the case back to the presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan, who will have to review the indictment line by line.
This dramatically reduces the likelihood that the federal criminal case against Trump will proceed before the 2024 election.
By holding on to the case until early July, the justices have reduced, if not eliminated, the chance that Trump will have to stand trial before the November election, no matter what the court decides.
Republicans Hail Supreme Court Ruling
Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform shortly after the court issued its decision on his immunity case.
“BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!,” he posted.
Marsha Blackburn, the Republican senator for Tennessee, also said that the ruling “rebukes Democrats’ blatant attempts to weaponize our legal system against Donald Trump.”
The Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville said the court had delivered a “crushing blow to Joe Biden’s 4-year witch hunt against President Trump.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman, also welcomed the supreme court ruling.
Green stated that the court had made the “right decision” and called for special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation to be “defunded.”
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