Trump wins as Supreme Court strikes down case on January 6

Immediately after the Supreme Court ruled on the president’s immunity request, Donald Trump took to social media to celebrate.

“A huge win for our constitution and democracy,” he posted on Truth Social. “Proud to be an American!”

Although Trump did not receive the full defense he and his lawyers sought, he still received enough to achieve his immediate goal of delaying another trial until after the election in November. 11.

The ruling by six conservative justices dealt a severe blow to the federal criminal case against him on the charges trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith and his team will have to significantly restructure the case against the former president and the evidence they can rely on to support it if they want to move forward. The trial has been paused pending that decision.

Friday’s 6-3 ruling ensures any prosecutions arising from the decision will be delayed beyond November’s presidential election, as the trial court aligns with Supreme Court guidance .

In fact, the six conservative justices set an incredibly high bar for Mr. Smith and his team to meet.

Trump, the court ruled, has blanket immunity from official acts as president related to his core constitutional duties. That includes communications he had with Justice Department officials about allegations of election fraud. And so the indictment against Trump is essentially dead.

Additionally, the six justices said there was a possibility of immunity for any other official acts. In practice, that means prosecutors will have to work much harder to bring a case against Trump.

However, the court added that the president does not have immunity for unofficial actions.

In his view, Chief Justice John Roberts went on to apply that standard specifically to the former president — guidance that could be particularly damaging to prosecutors in election interference cases.

Trump’s efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify Joe Biden’s election victory — a key part of Jack Smith’s lawsuit — is the kind of official action that would be subject to review legal to higher standards.

The former president’s comments on January 6, 2021, which allegedly incited the attack on the Capitol, could also be considered official actions.

The chief justice also said “private testimony or records of the president or his advisers” are not admissible in court. This greatly limits the types of evidence that prosecutors can present to support their case, even in cases involving unofficial actions.

Meanwhile, the trial court will have to consider Trump’s contacts with citizens to determine whether it was an unofficial act.

Justice Roberts explained that the president needs such broad immunity from official actions because the threat of criminal prosecution — and “the extraordinary public outcry that accompanies criminal proceedings” — can “distort” the president’s decision-making process.

“The President is not above the law,” he wrote. “But Congress cannot criminalize the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution.”

While the former president and his team celebrated the decision as a victory for American democracy, the court’s three liberal justices had a very different view.

“In every exercise of official power, the president is now a king above the law,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissenting opinion.

She went on to list a series of actions for which the president cannot be prosecuted, such as ordering the assassination of political opponents, accepting bribes in exchange for pardons and staging coups to seize power.

“Immune,” she wrote. “Immunity, immunity, immunity.”

“Out of concern for our democracy,” she concluded, “I disagree.”

The Supreme Court now leaves the election interference case to a lower court judge, who will have to apply the details of the decision. Those decisions will also be subject to appeal and review – a process that could take months, if not years.

And if Trump wins the presidency in November, his Justice Department appointees could dismiss the case altogether.