The granting of judicial immunity by the US Supreme Court in the case of the invasion of the Capitol could positively affect other cases that are taking place in the American justice system against former President Donald Trump.
In the judgment of an appeal filed by the Republican, the Supreme Court ruled that occupants or former occupants of the most important position in the American Executive can claim immunity for “official acts” carried out during their terms in office.
“A former president is entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution 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 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.
Roberto Uebel, professor of International Relations at ESPM, explains that the decision makes a distinction between Trump’s role in the public and private spheres. “All actions for which he could be held liable in a lawsuit, but which were taken while he was president, are immune, unlike actions taken as a citizen, in the private sphere.”
The internationalist cites the case in which the former president was convicted in New York, involving payments to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels. “The action in which he was convicted in Manhattan of bribing the adult film actress occurred in the private sphere and while he was not yet president, unlike other actions such as the custody of official documents.”
According to Ricardo Caichiolo, professor of International Relations at Ibmec Brasília, all four cases against the former president may be affected by the historic decision issued this Monday (1st).
“With the decision, there is important support for Trump’s lawyers to seek to annul such cases or, at least, make the processing of the cases slower,” he analyzed.
According to the professor, Trump’s defense will try to argue that the criminal charges are based on acts carried out while he was in office as president and that were related to his role.
For Caichiolo, the decision can be considered a victory for the Republican. “With it [a decisão]firstly, Trump avoids another trial against him before the presidential election on November 5, thus preventing his popularity from falling. In addition, the decision of the six Supreme Court justices significantly affects a potential conviction of the former president in federal court, where he was accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” he explained.
In the internationalist’s analysis, the new scenario opens space for the Republican candidate to reinforce his narrative of innocence in all the accusations he faces in the United States, justifying that they are politically motivated.
Roberto Uebel also believes that the decision will strengthen the former president and future Republican candidate for the November elections. The professor says that Trump came out of last week’s debate against Joe Biden much stronger.
“His argument was very well constructed, despite some fallacies. He won the debate and now this Supreme Court decision is being used in his electoral strategy as a total victory in the American justice system, placing him as immune to any decision by the Judiciary that could harm his campaign, which, in reality, is not quite the case, but is being reproduced in this way,” he analyzed.
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