Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court’s decision, joined by his fellow conservatives. Dissenting were the three liberals, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Roberts acknowledged that the case was unprecedented.
"No court has thus far considered how to distinguish between official and unofficial acts," he wrote, while chiding the lower courts for rendering "their decisions on a highly expedited basis." He said the lower courts "did not analyze the conduct alleged in the indictment to decide which of it should be categorized as official and which unofficial."
Roberts wrote that "Trump asserts a far broader immunity than the limited one we have recognized," but the opinion also undermined some of the key charges against the former president.
“Certain allegations — such as those involving Trump's discussions with the Acting Attorney General — are readily categorized in light of the nature of the President's official relationship to the office held by that individual,” he wrote. In other words, "Trump is ... absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials."
Monday's decision to send the case back to trial Judge Tanya Chutkan all but guarantees that there will be no Trump trial on the election interference charges for months. Even before the immunity case, Judge Chutkan indicated that trial preparations would likely take three months. Now, she will also have to decide which of the charges in the Trump indictment should remain and which involve official acts that under the Supreme Court ruling are protected from prosecution.
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority “in effect, completely insulate[s] Presidents from criminal liability.”
“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law," she wrote. "Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom the need for “bold and unhesitating action” by the President, ... the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more.”
Even after Judge Chutkan separates the constitutional wheat from the chaff, Trump could seek further delays, as immunity questions are among the very few that may be appealed prior to trial.
Copyright 2024 NPR
