In Donald Trump’s immunity case, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that presidents are shielded from prosecution for official acts, but not unofficial ones.
The case was sent back to a lower court, further delaying the historic prosecution against the Republican ex-president on charges that he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
The ruling was 6-3 along the high court’s ideological lines, with Trump’s three appointed conservative justices ruling in favor, but the three liberal justices on the bench dissenting.
“Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” the ruling reads. “And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
In a blistering dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, expressed grave concern for how this ruling could impact the future of American democracy.
“Looking beyond the fate of this particular prosecution, the long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark,” she wrote. “The Court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding. 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.”
“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. Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today.”
“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done,” Sotomayor wrote. “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.
“Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law,” she later added. “Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop.”
“With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” Sotomayor concluded.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called it a “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY” in all-caps.
“PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” he added.
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
Justin Tasolides
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