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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