US Supreme Court grants Trump substantial immunity from prosecution
Washington: The conservative judges on the US Supreme Court have granted Donald Trump substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts taken as president, in a stunning ruling that liberal justices warn could give him the power to assassinate rivals and order military coups in the future.
In a landmark 6-3 decision that has further delayed Trump’s trial for trying to overthrow the 2020 election, America’s highest court has ruled that presidents and ex-presidents cannot be charged for things they do as part of their core duties in office.
A demonstrator stands outside the Supreme Court in April as the justices prepared to hear arguments over whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution.
The Supreme court has now sent the matter back to the US District Court in Washington to determine which of Trump’s actions leading up to and during the January 6 insurrection – in which Trump and his supporters tried to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified – were done in an official or unofficial capacity.
The historic decision was made along ideological lines, with the liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan – issuing a chilling warning about it could mean for America’s future.
“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. Organises a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune,” wrote Sotomayor on behalf of the three dissenting justices.
“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. 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.”
However, chief justice John Roberts disagreed, saying that “the president is not above the law,” but his actions must not be criminalised when he or she is “carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution.”
The ruling is a significant victory for Trump, at a time when Biden’s bid for re-election has been thrown into doubt after his dismal debate performance last week.
Despite panic in some sections of the Democratic Party, Biden and his supporters say he does not intend to step aside and make way for another candidate.
“I’m scared as shit and I think Americans are scared – and should be scared – of what Donald Trump will do, ” said his principal deputy campaign manager Quintin Fulks.
“So I can reassure you that when you do see President Biden out on the trail, he will be talking about the reasons why Americans should be scared of Donald Trump, as he has been for months, and this Supreme Court opinion today just amplified that.”
Today’s ruling comes 10 months after Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump for allegedly conspiring to overturn Biden’s election victory
This means that some of the things Trump claims were core duties as president are now off-limits, such as certain interactions with Justice Department officials, including his threat to fire then attorney general Jeffrey Rosen in favour of a loyalist.
Donald Trump’s supporters attack the US Capitol in an attempt to violently overthrow the election on January 6, 2021.
He is also “presumptively immune” from being prosecuted for interactions with Vice President Mike Pence - who he pressured to reject electoral votes - because discussions about vice presidential responsibility were part of his job, the court found.
Other matters - such as his other attempts to stop the vote certification; his rally speech that led to rioters storming the Capitol and the plot to organise fake electors - will be up to the lower court to decide on.
Trump turned to the Supreme Court – where he helped appoint three of the six conservative justices – after the Federal District Court in Washington initially ruled against him, followed by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Two other trials against Trump have also been delayed. The first is another election interference case in Georgia, where his team have sought to remove the district attorney Fani Willis after she admitted having an improper relationship with the lead prosecutor in the case.
The second is a trial in Florida over the alleged mishandling of classified documents, where critics claim the Trump-appointed presiding Judge Aileen Cannon is deliberately slowing down the process.
Trump, who will be sentenced in New York next week for falsifying business records, praised the latest ruling as a “big win for our Constitution and democracy.”
“Proud to be an American,” he said in a Truth Social post.
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