WASHINGTON (AP) supreme court The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday extended a stay of Washington’s criminal proceedings against Donald Trump, ruling for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. He plotted to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. And any chance the former president could be tried before the November election has all but disappeared.
in Historic 6-3 decisionThe Supreme Court’s conservative majority, which includes three justices appointed by Trump, narrowed the scope of the case against Trump and sent the case back to the court to decide the remainder of special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment.
Trump celebrated a “big victory” in Case X. President Joe Biden said the justices set a “dangerous precedent that will undermine governance in this country.”
The ruling reflected a hardline view of presidential power and was criticized by dissenting justices as undermining a core democratic principle that no one is above the law.
The Supreme Court’s decision underscores just how important a role judges have in November’s presidential election. He rejected attempts to remove him from the vote. The split comes as a result of actions following the election of 2020. The Supreme Court last week also limited the obstruction charges that Trump faced and that were applied to hundreds of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The justices’ division also reflects in many ways the country’s political divisions.
“Under our constitutional separation of powers structure, the nature of presidential power entitles former presidents to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts that fall within the scope of their categorical and exclusive constitutional authority,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote to the court. “And presidents are entitled to at least presumptive immunity for all official acts, but no immunity for non-official acts.”
The Chief Justice argued that the president is “not above the law.” But in a sharp dissenting opinion from the Court’s three liberals, Justice Sonia Sotomayor “In all exercises of civil power, the President is now a king above the law,” he wrote.
“Because our Constitution does not exempt former presidents from responsibility for criminal or treasonable acts, I dissent,” Justice Sotomayor said in her opinion before the court. She said the decision “makes a mockery of a fundamental principle of our Constitution and political system: that no one is above the law.”
She said the protections the Supreme Court has given the president are “as terrible as they sound and are without merit.”
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Trump posted in capital letters on his social media networks: “A HUGE WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
“In effect, today’s decision almost certainly means there are virtually no limits to what the president can do,” Biden lamented in an evening speech at the White House, citing constraints on presidential power dating back to George Washington.
Smith’s office declined to comment on the sentence.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer denounced the ruling as a “disgraceful decision” made with the cooperation of three judges appointed by President Trump.
“This undermines the credibility of the Supreme Court and suggests that political influence prevails above all else on the court today,” the New York Democrat said on X.
The judges dismissed one aspect of the indictment, finding that Trump was “fully immune” from prosecution for alleged conduct related to his discussions with the Justice Department.
Trump also is “at least presumptively immune” from allegations that he tried to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors may try to argue that Trump’s pressure on Pence could still be part of their case against Trump, Roberts wrote.
The Supreme Court ordered a fact-finding analysis of one of the indictment’s most explosive charges — that Trump engaged in a scheme to compile fake electoral votes in battleground states won by Biden and falsely claim that Trump had won. The two sides have widely differing interpretations of whether the effort can be construed as official, and conservative justices said additional court-level analysis is needed to determine which side is in the right.
Roberts’ opinion further limited prosecutors by prohibiting them from using any official acts as evidence to prove that the president’s unofficial acts violated the law. One example that was raised during argument but unrelated to this case involved the payment of a hypothetical bribe in return for an ambassadorial appointment.
According to Monday’s ruling, the former president can be charged with accepting bribes, but prosecutors cannot cite the appointment, which is a formal act, in their case.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the rest of Roberts’ opinion, dissented on this point. “The Constitution does not require that jurors be concealed the circumstances surrounding the conduct for which the President is held responsible,” Justice Barrett wrote.
She also said analysis of the fake electoral claims was unnecessary: ”I see no plausible argument to bar prosecution of that alleged conduct,” Barrett wrote.
The task of deciding how to proceed will now fall to a U.S. District Court judge. Tanya ChutkanHe will be in charge of President Trump’s trial.
Derek Mueller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said that while Trump could still face trial, “it would be nearly impossible for a trial to take place before the election.”
David Becker, an election law expert and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the scope of immunity given to Trump was “incredibly broad” and “deeply disturbing”.
“Almost everything that a president does in the executive branch is considered an official act,” he said in a conference call with reporters after the ruling. “My interpretation of this ruling is that for an unscrupulous person who sits in the Oval Office and may lose an election, this could be a road map for them to use to stay in power.”
The decision was his final of the term and came more than two months after the court heard arguments — much slower than other major cases involving the presidency. Watergate Scandal.
The Republican former president has denied any wrongdoing and argued the charges, along with three others, are politically motivated to block him from returning to the White House.
In May, Trump became the first former president to Convicted of a felonyIn a New York court, Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to cover up payments to pornography actors during the 2016 presidential election. The actors alleged they had sex with Trump, charges Trump denies. After Monday’s verdict, Trump’s lawyers asked the New York judge presiding over the case to vacate Trump’s conviction and postpone sentencing. Trump remains The other three indictments.
Smith He is leading two federal investigations into former President Trump, both of which have resulted in criminal charges. The Washington case focuses on allegations that Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election after he lost to Biden. The Florida case is over the mishandling of classified documents. Another case in Georgia also focuses on Trump’s conduct after he lost the 2020 election.
If Trump’s trial in Washington does not take place before the 2024 election and does not give him another four years in the White House, he would be tried shortly thereafter.
But if Trump wins, he could appoint an attorney general to seek dismissal of the case and other federal charges he faces. Trump could also pardon himself if he returns to the White House. Trump cannot pardon himself if he is convicted in a New York state court.
The Supreme Court hearing the case included three justices appointed by Trump — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Barrett — as well as two justices who chose not to step down after questions were raised about their impartiality.
Thomas’s wife, Ginnyattended a rally near the White House where Trump spoke on January 6, 2021, but did not go to the Capitol. Crowd of Trump supporters She attacked it soon after. After the 2020 election, she called the election results a “robbery” and exchanged messages with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, urging him to stand firmly against Trump, who has made false claims of widespread election fraud.
Justice Samuel Alito said, There’s no reason for him to back down. He backed away from the series after The New York Times reported that flags similar to those raised by the rioters on Jan. 6 had been flown over homes in Virginia and on the New Jersey coast. His wife, Martha Ann Alito, was the one who flew an upside-down U.S. flag in January 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” banner in the summer of 2023, he said in a letter responding to Democratic senators’ demands for him to resign.
Before the Supreme Court intervened, a one-judge, three-judge appeals panel had unanimously ruled that Trump could be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House and in the run-up to January 6.
Chutkan Trump’s immunity claim rejected In his December ruling, Judge Chutkan said, “The presidency does not confer lifelong ‘freedom of liberty.'”
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Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri, Michelle Price and Ali Swenson contributed to this report.
