The US Supreme Court ends its current session this Monday. The court is expected to issue a long-awaited ruling.
The US Supreme Court is ending its current session this Monday. It is expected that the question of whether former US President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is protected from prosecution for actions in office will finally be answered. The answer has consequences for the election fraud case against Trump in Washington.
Trump wants to be granted “absolute presidential immunity.”
What is it about?
The groundbreaking ruling in the case Donald J. Trump v. United States deals with the question of “whether and, if so, to what extent a former president enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct allegedly related to official acts during his term in office.” The ruling has direct consequences for the criminal trial against Donald Trump for his conduct during the attempted coup and storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
How did the case come before the Supreme Court?
It began with the Justice Department’s special investigation into Donald Trump after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Special investigator Jack Smith was tasked with investigating the then president’s role. Based on the investigation report, a grand jury brought charges against Trump in Washington (DC) in August 2023. The charges included conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and violation of the right to vote. However, the allegation that Donald Trump incited the insurrection is not part of the indictment. Donald Trump objected to the charges.
On February 6, 2024, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that Smith could proceed with the trial. “Any executive immunity that protected him while he was President no longer protects him from this prosecution,” the court said.
Donald Trump’s lawyers then asked the Supreme Court to clarify the fundamental question of how far the immunity of American presidents extends before a trial. At the end of February, the Supreme Court granted the stay requested by Trump.
What positions did the government represent, what positions did Donald Trump represent?
Donald Trump argued that his actions after the election of Joe Biden until January 6, 2021 were within the scope of his official responsibilities. In addition, he had already been acquitted by the impeachment proceedings in Congress and therefore could not be tried a second time. In his request to stay the proceedings, Trump’s lawyers referred, among other things, to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Fitzgerald v. Nixon from 1982. A majority of the justices ruled at the time that no president can be civilly charged while in office.
Special investigator Jack Smith interpreted the legal situation diametrically differently and cited the same precedent. A president only enjoys civil immunity. The assumption that a criminal offense also constitutes an official act goes too far and undermines democracy and the rule of law.
How did the hearing go?
When the Supreme Court heard the parties’ case on April 25, the main issue was where to draw the line between official and unofficial actions of a president. A private action could be prosecuted, an official one would be subject to the principle of immunity.
What happens after the verdict?
If the judges lift Trump’s immunity, it will be decided whether the trial against Donald Trump in Washington (DC) will take place this year. Since the hot phase of the election campaign begins in September, the trial could be seen as interference in a democratic election. If the start of the trial is postponed until next year, the election result will determine whether Trump has to appear in court. If he wins the election, he could pardon himself as US President.
It is also possible that the Supreme Court will send the question of immunity back to lower courts. This would delay the trial against Donald Trump indefinitely.