Trump Has Some Immunity From Prosecution As Ex President: US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that Donald Trump enjoys some immunity from prosecution as a former president, a ruling that will likely delay his trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

The 6-3 decision split along ideological lines comes four months ahead of the election in which Trump is the Republican candidate to take on Democrat Joe Biden.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, in his majority opinion, said a president enjoys “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official acts taken while in office.

There is no immunity for unofficial acts,” Roberts said, sending the case back to a lower court to determine which of the charges facing the former president involves official or unofficial conduct.

The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying “never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law.”

“With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” she said.

Trump’s original trial date in the election case had been for March 4, well before his November rematch with President Joe Biden.