The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that former President Donald Trump enjoys partial immunity from prosecution, a decision that is likely to delay his trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. The 6-3 ruling, split along ideological lines, comes just four months before the presidential election, in which Trump is the Republican candidate running against incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, clarified that while a president is “not above the law,” they do have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official acts performed while in office. “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,” Roberts stated. However, he added that there is no immunity for a president’s unofficial acts, sending the case back to a lower court to determine which charges against Trump pertain to his official duties.
Previously, both a District Court and a three-judge appeals court panel had rejected Trump’s claims of immunity. The District Court will now conduct pre-trial hearings, making a trial before the November election unlikely. Trump faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding—the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress to certify Biden’s victory—and conspiracy to deny Americans the right to vote.
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed concern for democracy, stating, “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 warned that the ruling sets a dangerous precedent where a president could misuse official powers without consequence.
Trump, on his platform Truth Social, hailed the ruling as a “big win for our Constitution and democracy.”
The original trial date for Trump’s election subversion case was set for March 4. However, the Supreme Court’s decision to hear his argument for absolute presidential immunity in February effectively paused the case.
Steven Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, noted that the ruling will likely extend the case well beyond the election. “To the extent that Trump was trying to drag his feet and extend this beyond the election, he has succeeded wildly,” Schwinn said, adding that the decision provides a “roadmap” for future presidents to avoid prosecution by intertwining official and unofficial actions.
Trump, facing four criminal cases, has been attempting to delay trials until after the election. He was convicted in New York in May of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 campaign, marking the first time a former US president has been convicted of a crime. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
Through a series of pre-trial motions, Trump’s lawyers have managed to delay the three other trials concerning his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his retention of top-secret documents at his Florida home. If re-elected, Trump could potentially order the federal cases against him to be closed once he is sworn in as president in January 2025.