Supreme Court Rules Trump and Former Presidents Have Some Immunity for Official Acts

TIME

More than two months after hearing oral arguments, the Supreme Court on Monday partially backed former President Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution for actions he took while in office.

Transcript

00:00In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court found that former presidents have broad immunity

00:13from criminal prosecution.

00:15The decision in the case of former President Donald Trump is an additional delay in his

00:23prosecution on charges he interfered with the outcome of the 2020 election.

00:29And because it's going to require more work done by the lower courts, it makes it quite

00:34unlikely that any trial for the former president could take place before the November election.

00:40The decision found that official acts have some sort of immunity, while unofficial acts

00:47have no immunity.

00:49In practical terms, that means some of the core functions of being president, like for

00:54instance, vetoing legislation, could never be the subject of prosecution.

00:59Other acts, including Trump's discussions with former Vice President Mike Pence on January

01:056th and leading up to January 6th, are presumed to be immune from prosecution, but prosecutors

01:11will have a chance to present evidence to rebut that presumption.

01:16That work will all take place in the trial court, where U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkin,

01:21who would preside over the trial, will have to sort out what is left of Special Counsel

01:27Jack Smith's indictment.

01:29Among the things she will be looking at is whether the scheme to have fake electors in

01:35states Biden won insists that actually Trump won the election, whether that effort counts

01:42as an official act or as an unofficial act.

01:45And if it's the latter, presumably a prosecution could proceed on those grounds.

01:51In a scathing dissent, a summary of which she read in the courtroom, Justice Sonia Sotomayor

01:57wrote that the decision makes a mockery of the claim that no man is above the law.

02:03She said that the Supreme Court majority was essentially elevating presidents to the status

02:09of a king in the decision.

02:11The court's ruling was six to three, all from the conservative justices on the court.

02:17And five of those votes came from the three justices who were appointed by Donald Trump

02:22to the Supreme Court, as well as two others who rejected calls to step aside from the

02:27case because of questions about their impartiality.

02:31Among those was Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote a separate opinion in which he questioned

02:37the validity of Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel.

02:42Lower courts generally are obligated to follow what the Supreme Court decides in the event

02:48that Trump is unhappy with whatever decisions Judge Chutkan makes, he can again appeal.

02:55Again, there is very little prospect that any of this could happen before the election.

03:00And if Trump is elected, there's a real possibility he could then direct the Justice Department

03:06to dismiss the case against him.

03:10If he is not elected in November, then there's a good chance that the case would continue,

03:17although again, the timing now is very much unclear.

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