Supreme Court Rules President has Immunity for Official Acts

The US Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump has some immunity from prosecution for official actions taken while he was in the White House. The landmark decision is likely to delay his trial for interfering in the 2020 election. The former president described the decision as a big win. Our North America editor, Sarah Smith, reports.

The powerful Supreme Court has the final say on what presidents can and cannot do. Today’s historic ruling means a president can never be prosecuted for anything that’s part of their official duties, that they do not have immunity for non-official acts. So what does this mean for the criminal cases against Donald Trump?

Fight for Trump. Fight for Trump.

When he spoke to supporters on January the sixth, was he officially acting as the president or as the losing candidate?

We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.

Donald Trump is facing criminal charges related to the January the sixth riot and attempting to overturn the election results.

Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

As his supporters stormed the Capitol building, they chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” Angry with the vice president because he refused to block the certification of Joe Biden as president. Mr. Pence had to be evacuated from his office. Donald Trump cannot now be prosecuted for all the conversations in which he had been pressuring Mike Pence to overturn the election results. The Supreme Court did not say whether all the charges Donald Trump is facing are covered by presidential immunity, so it’s going to have to be argued out in a lower court which of his actions were official presidential acts and have immunity and which were not, meaning he can still be prosecuted for them. Trump is also facing charges in the state of Georgia for trying to overturn the election result there. He phoned a local official and asked him to find more votes.

So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.

A court will have to rule on whether he was acting as president or not when he made that call. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a more liberal judge, completely disagrees with the ruling saying, “In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. If he orders the Navy Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival, immune, organizes a military coup to hold onto power, immune.”

Until now, every president who has served in the United States has understood that he could be prosecuted if he engaged in criminal conduct while President. Going forward, presidents know they’re free.

The most immediate effect of this ruling will be to further delay the three court cases Mr. Trump is still facing, making it all but certain they will not come to court before November’s election. So that’s why Donald Trump is claiming victory saying that is a big win for him. Democrats are absolutely furious. They say that this ruling will further delay the trial against Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election results and the January the sixth riot, but they’re also warning about what the consequences could be if Donald Trump is re-elected to power and is in the White House knowing that he has complete immunity for anything he does as an official presidential act. And of course, his strategy all along has been to try and delay, delay, delay all of these court cases. The January 6th case was actually supposed to start at the beginning of March, but it has been continually delayed and it now will not start before the presidential election in November.

(03:39)
And remember, if Trump wins that election, he can immediately simply order the Department of Justice to drop that case and it would never have to be heard at all.