The US Supreme Court on Monday granted partial immunity to former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to overturn the election that led to the attack on the Capitol, ruling that his official acts as president are protected, but not “his unofficial ones.”
“A former president is entitled to absolute immunity from criminal proceedings for actions within the scope of his constitutional authority (…) but there is no immunity for unofficial acts,” states the decision agreed upon by 6 votes to 3, the latter from the progressive judges.
The ruling will likely delay Trump’s trial in Washington on federal election subversion charges, as it rejects a February federal appeals court ruling that found Trump lacked immunity for alleged crimes he committed while still president, to reverse the results of the 2020 elections.
The decision represents a victory for the Republican, as it will likely allow him to avoid appearing before another court before the November 5 elections, in which he will face the current president, Democrat Joe Biden.
“A great victory for our Constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American!” Trump wrote in a message, in capital letters, on his own social network, Truth Social.
Trump has already had to spend several weeks this year in a New York courtroom for a court case that made him the first former president in US history to be found guilty of a crime, in this case falsifying business records related to payment. what he did to buy the silence of former porn actress Stormy Daniels.
The immunity case before the Supreme Court comes from a federal court in Washington, where a grand jury indicted him in August 2023 on three counts of trying to overturn the election he lost to Biden in 2020 and instigating the attack on the Capitol in January 2021, which occurred as the certification of the election results was scheduled.
Trump’s defense requested a mistrial, claiming that the Republican enjoys
immunity because he was president at the time of the attack on the Capitol.
However, both the judge handling the case in Washington and an appeals court later rejected those petitions, sending the case to the Supreme Court, which studied it during a hearing in April.
Although not provided for in the Constitution or law, sitting U.S. presidents have historically enjoyed absolute immunity from prosecution in connection with their office in order to avoid violating the separation of executive and judicial branches.
Trump’s defense wanted to take this legal doctrine a step further, arguing that former presidents continue to enjoy criminal immunity for acts committed during their term in office. However, the Public Ministry argues that Trump cannot be above the law.
This decision could have consequences for other cases that Trump faces in Georgia for his alleged attempts to invalidate the state’s election results, and in Florida for illegally storing classified material in his Mar-a-Lago mansion after leaving office.
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