The US Supreme Court has ruled that former president Donald Trump and other presidents enjoy a significant degree of immunity for actions taken as president, in a decision that could reverberate not just in Trump’s criminal cases but also for future presidents.in finding that a president is a) absolutely immune for actions taken while exercising his “core constitutional powers” and b) entitled to the presumption of immunity for all official acts.
All of which means some of Trump’s conduct can still be prosecuted, but some cannot. And figuring out what can and cannot be is still to be determined. The Supreme Court’s majority suggested that certain aspects of the indictment will now have to be revisited - including comments Trump made on January 6 itself.
The court’s liberal wing raised a giant red flag on that front, casting the decision as empowering future presidents to take drastic actions. “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune,” Sotomayor wrote. “Organises a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
“Thus, even a hypothetical president who admits to having ordered the assassinations of his political rivals or critics … or one who indisputably instigates an unsuccessful coup … has a fair shot at getting immunity under the majority’s new Presidential accountability model,” Jackson wrote.