Trump Scores Major Victory

Former President Donald Trump won big today at the Supreme Court. The justices ruled 6-to-3 that presidents do have varying degrees of immunity depending on the actions taken.

In exercising core constitutional powers, presidents have absolute immunity. The majority declared that a president “is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts made it clear that the definition of official acts is to be broadly interpreted, writing that the president’s immunity “extends to the ‘outer perimeter’ of the president’s official responsibilities.” Roberts also added that “courts may not inquire into the president’s motives.”

In addition, Roberts specifically wrote that Trump’s conversations with Justice Department officials were covered under absolute immunity. Roberts also strongly suggested that Trump’s speech on the morning of January 6th was a protected action “comfortably within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities.”

Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley declared today’s decision to be “a major victory” for Donald Trump. Turley notes that Roberts provided “navigational beacons” for how a lower court judge should view various actions and their degree of immunity. Turley said:

“These beacons are a bit more narrow [limiting the trial judge’s discretion] than we expected. They are giving some very clear language and a heavy burden for Jack Smith. . . He’s going to have a heck of time trying to satisfy this burden.”

Between this case and Friday’s decision restricting the use of an obstruction charge in January 6th cases, Turley added, “I personally think these two opinions have ripped the wings off [Jack Smith’s] case.”

The justices ordered Judge Tanya Chutkan to reevaluate Smith’s charges against Trump in view of the president’s broad immunity, and those decisions will be subject to further appeals.

Here’s the bottom line: This case isn’t going to trial before the November election.