U.S. Supreme Court rules Trump has some immunity from criminal prosecution

Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland, the United States, Feb. 24, 2024. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for the majority, dismissed Donald Trump's expansive immunity arguments, stating that Trump is only immune for his actions conducted in an "official" capacity as president.

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has some immunity from criminal charges for trying to reverse the 2020 election results, which makes a trial before election unlikely.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority that includes three justices appointed by Trump himself, voted 6-3 along ideological lines, ordering the lower courts to reconsider the case and determine which allegations cannot be prosecuted.

Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for the majority, dismissed Trump's expansive immunity arguments, stating that Trump is only immune for his actions conducted in an "official" capacity as president.

"The President is not above the law," the ruling said. "But under our system of separated powers, the President may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for his official acts."

"There is no immunity for unofficial acts," the ruling said.

The Supreme Court did not define what qualifies as an official act in this instance, delegating that decision to the lower court.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the majority decision.

"It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law," they argued.

Relying on little more than its own "misguided wisdom" about the need for "bold and unhesitating action" by the President, the Court gives former President Trump "all the immunity he asked for and more," they said.

Photo taken on March 4, 2024 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Trump, meanwhile, praised the Supreme Court's ruling. "BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY," the former president said on a post on his social networking site Truth Social.

A federal grand jury indicted Trump on four counts for conduct that occurred during his Presidency following the November 2020 election. The indictment alleged that after losing that election to Joe Biden, Trump conspired to overturn it by "spreading knowingly false claims of election fraud" to obstruct the collecting, counting, and certifying of the election results, the ruling noted.

Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on Presidential immunity, arguing that a President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.

In February, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit delivered a ruling denying Trump broad immunity from federal prosecution.

Previously, the Supreme Court already received strong disapproval from Democrats for agreeing to hear the Trump case, which delayed a trial that could have started in March.

The extended period the court has taken to address this high-profile case has aided Trump by diminishing the probability that a trial stemming from the charges would conclude before the Nov. 5 election.