State of the Union: The ruling clarifies an important part of presidential immunity.
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of the former President Donald Trump in a case concerning presidential immunity. The court’s ruling states that presidents and former presidents have immunity from prosecution for actions taken in their official capacity, but not for those taken in a private capacity.
The ruling was decided 6–3 along ideological lines, overturning a lower court’s ruling from earlier this year that presidential immunity did not shield former presidents from criminal prosecution.
The decision came on the last day of the Supreme Court’s term and confounds the case brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who had sought to prosecute Trump over actions concerning the disputed outcome of the 2020 election and the subsequent events of January 6. The case will now return to a lower court, which will decide whether Trump’s actions were taken in an official or personal capacity. The case will now be delayed until after the election; should Trump be re-elected, he will be able to dismiss Smith.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is in continuity with earlier rulings concerning presidential immunity. For example, the 1982 case Nixon v. Fitzgerald ruled that presidents cannot be sued for official acts taken as president. Today’s case, Trump v. United States, thus clarifies that presidential immunity also applies to immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions.
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