Former President Donald Trump saw Monday’s Supreme Court ruling granting him at least partial immunity from prosecution as a victory.
“BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” the former president said on social media just minutes after the decision was announced.
The court, in a 6-3 ruling divided along ideological grounds, said presidents have “absolute immunity” from prosecution for acts they take as president that fall within their core presidential duties.
They have some immunity for other official acts, but don’t have immunity for unofficial acts. The court’s majority said it will be up to trial courts to sort out what behavior falls into which category.
In another post, Mr. Trump called the high court’s decision “historic” and said it “should end all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the New York Hoaxes — The Manhattan SCAM cooked up by Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, Racist New York Attorney General Tish James’ shameless ATTACK on the amazing business that I have built, and the FAKE Bergdorf’s ’case.’ PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
The case before the justices involved the federal prosecution over Mr. Trump’s acts surrounding the 2020 presidential election, including trying to push states not to certify the results, to recruit alternate slates of electors and to have then-Vice President Mike Pence refuse to accept the outcome.
The court said some of that behavior is protected but it’s not clear whether other behavior is. They sent the case back to the trial court.
That makes it almost unthinkable that Mr. Trump will go to trial before Election Day, which is in itself somewhat of a victory for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Mr. Trump argued late last year that he should be exempt from prosecution over his efforts of election interference because it was his “right and duty to investigate, and speak on, the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election.”
He faces two criminal cases for those efforts — the federal one in Washington by special counsel Jack Smith and another in Georgia.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rejected Mr. Trump’s arguments.
“He contends that the indictment must be dismissed because the Impeachment Judgment Clause requires that impeachment and Senate conviction precede a President’s criminal prosecution,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “The text of the Clause provides little support for such an absolute immunity.”
SEE ALSO: Biden-Harris campaign rails against Trump after Supreme Court’s immunity ruling
Monday’s ruling also could affect his other criminal case out of Florida for mishandling classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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