Supreme Court grants Trump partial immunity from criminal prosecution

High court decides presidents immune from prosecution for "official acts" but leaves open door for prosecution in January 6th case

The Supreme Court. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Graphic by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday that presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution for “official acts” taken while in office, likely negating key elements of the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecution of Donald Trump for January 6th but leaving the biggest decisions to the U.S. District Court to determine what actions he took qualify as “official” versus “private”.

The court decided 6-3, split along ideological lines. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority decision with the court’s conservative justices.

“He is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts,” Roberts wrote of former president Trump in the majority opinion.

Roberts, writing for the majority, reasoned that precedent and the Constitution deem the president must be freed of the concern of prosecution to execute the duties of the office. But Roberts also wrote that not every action taken by a president in office constitutes an “official act.”

“The President is not above the law,” Roberts wrote.

The parameters of that decision will be tested by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s January 6th case, and must now determine which of Trump’s actions spurring the deadly attack on Congress amount to “official acts”.

The court’s three liberal justices dissented.