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Why future presidents will be thankful for Supreme Court ruling in Trump v US
Monday’s Trump v. United States opinion made clear that a president or former president "may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts."
Chief Justice John Robert’s majority opinion also said that "the President enjoys no immunity for unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official."
The opinion did not, however, provide precise definitions for what exactly is considered an official or unofficial act, and left that question of fact-finding to the lower courts.
As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, "immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office." (Alex Brandon/AP Images)
The Supreme Court, however, clearly stated that courts may not inquire into a president’s motives when trying to distinguish official from unofficial acts nor "deem an action unofficial merely because it allegedly violates a generally applicable law."
The court also stated that prosecutors may not use official acts as evidence to support claims that a president’s unofficial acts are criminal.
Special Counsel Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland must now seriously reconsider how they wish to proceed with the DOJ’s prosecution in the District of Columbia against former President Trump, given the contours of today’s opinion and Friday’s Fischer opinion, which effectively canceled the core of the DOJ’s two Sarbanes-Oxley obstruction charges against Trump.
Because the court very clearly stated that Trump is "absolutely immune from prosecution" regarding his post-2020 election discussions with Justice Department officials, and "presumptively immune" for allegedly pressuring Vice President Pence, the two remaining fraud and voting rights charges are, at best, on extremely thin ground, especially because the court barred using or analyzing Trump’s motives and because there are numerous legal flaws in the DOJ’s theory of prosecution....
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That loud sound you just heard was Jack Smith's case against Trump hitting the dumpster
