Supreme Court Delivers Nuke -- Trump Gets IMMUNITY
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court backed the former president, who has asserted for over three years that he is shielded from criminal prosecution for his statements and actions related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
The constitution protects the president from criminal punishment for any actions taken while serving in an official capacity, the justices stated in a 6-3 decision. This would include President Trump's tweets in the days leading up to January 6, which raised concerns about the safety of the nation’s capital following the deaths of several Capitol police officers and a protestor.
The court reasoned that immunity does not extend to unofficial activities, allowing special counsel Jack Smith to continue with his two federal lawsuits against Trump.
“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive. The President therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party,” the majority wrote according to the Post Millennial.
“The judgement of the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the six-member majority added.
Trump’s lawyers contended in April that presidential immunity covered his actions concerning January 6 and classified information, which are pivotal to his two federal prosecutions. In response, Smith, the prosecutor from the Biden Justice Department, argued that Trump was acting as a private citizen when he allegedly took secret documents out of the White House for personal use and when he encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
According to Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion, the majority decision “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.” Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson also concurred.