Trump entitled to some immunity, Supreme Court rules: see GA Impact

WASHINGTON, DC — The nation’s highest court has ruled that former U.S. presidents, including Donald Trump, have some immunity from criminal prosecution.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Trump enjoyed absolute immunity from core constitutional powers during his presidency from January 2017 to January 2021.

“As for his other official actions, he is also entitled to immunity. At the present stage of the proceedings in this case, however, we need not decide whether this immunity must be absolute, or whether presumptive immunity is sufficient,” the justices said in a 6-3 decision, according to the 119-page decision.

The following justices wrote in the majority: Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Kentanji Brown Jackson voted in the minority.

Shortly after the court’s decision was announced, Trump took to the social media platform Truth Social to express his feelings.

“A great victory for our constitution and our democracy. Proud to be an American,” he wrote.

In Washington, Trump was charged with suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

“The indictment alleges that after losing that election, Trump conspired to overthrow it by knowingly spreading false claims of election fraud to obstruct the collection, counting, and certification of election results. According to the indictment, Trump accomplished his goal by
five main grounds,” the Supreme Court decision states.

Trump is charged with the following in Washington, according to the ruling:

• Fake Voters Organized in Seven States
• Using allegations of voter fraud to convince state legislators and election officials to switch electoral votes for President Joe Biden to votes for Trump
• Attempt to use Justice Department to ‘conduct investigations into phony election crimes’
• Asking former Vice President Mike Pence to use his status to change the election results during the January 6, 2021 certification.
• Exploiting the January 6 U.S. Capitol Siege to Advance “False Claims of Voter Fraud” and Convince Members of Congress to Further Delay Certification

With the new judgment, the future of this case is uncertain.