The Supreme Court ruled that Trump has partial immunity as president, but not for unofficial acts. 4 essential readings

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a president, including former President Donald Trump, cannot be sued for exercising his core constitutional powers, and that he is entitled, at a minimum, to presumptive immunity from prosecution for all of his official acts.

The decision is extremely nuanced, as one legal expert explained to The Conversation shortly after the decision was announced on July 1, 2024.

While a president enjoys blanket immunity for the exercise of his core constitutional powers, a sitting or former president also enjoys presumptive immunity for all official acts. That immunity, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, extends to the outer perimeter of the president’s official responsibilities, covering acts so long as they do not clearly or ostensibly exceed his authority.

The court ruled that there is no immunity for unofficial acts.

The vote was 6-3, with the court's three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, strongly dissenting from the majority opinion in a dissent.

Today’s decision to grant former presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the presidency. It flouts the fundamental principle of our Constitution and our system of government that no one is above the law, Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion.

The federal lawsuits against Trump for his actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election will now be sent back to lower courts to determine which of the federal charges against Trump can be brought forward. What is clear, however, is that this decision will have a major impact on presidential power and the separation of powers in government.

While we wait for all the nuances of the decision to be analyzed by constitutional law scholars, here are four stories to help readers better understand the arguments that led to the decision and what was at stake in the case.

Protesters demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on July 1, 2024, ahead of the court's expected decision on Donald Trump's immunity from prosecution. Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images 1. Lay the groundwork

Trump has claimed he is immune from federal prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election because he was president at the time.

Trump's argument hinges on the claim that a president cannot be subject to prosecution for official conduct or actions taken in office, wrote Claire B. Wofford, a political science scholar at the College of Charleston.

Since 1982, in a case dating back to Richard Nixon’s presidency, presidents have been considered immune from civil lawsuits based on the actions of their officials, Wofford explained, and Trump sought to expand that immunity protection. But it was a tall order, Wofford wrote:

Protecting the president from the hassle of a civil trial is one thing; allowing the president, charged by Article 2 of the Constitution with faithfully executing the laws, to be able to break those same laws with impunity is another.

Indeed, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in December 2023 that Trump did not have the divine right of kings to escape criminal liability. And a federal appeals court agreed in February 2024. That’s the decision Trump appealed to the Supreme Court.

Read more: Trump was not king and can be prosecuted for crimes committed while president: appeals court limits immunity

2. An inconsistent statement

Trump's claim has faced an uphill battle. Stefanie Lindquist, a constitutional law scholar at Arizona State University, observed:

In several of the lawsuits he filed to challenge the election results following the 2020 election, Trump himself has said he was acting in his personal capacity as a candidate, as opposed to his official capacity as president.

“Now Trump is claiming that whether or not he acted as a candidate on January 6, his comments on matters of public interest fall within his presidential duties.

This inconsistency, along with the Constitution's general principle that no one is above the law, has made Trump's position difficult to defend.

Read more: Trump claims the Constitution gives him immunity, here's why justices and the Supreme Court might disagree

3. A decision that is slow in coming

Wofford, a constitutional law scholar at the College of Charleston, observed before the Supreme Court's July decision that the public was concerned about the length of time it was taking the court to issue a decision, but she said the delay was far more likely to be in the service of democracy than a partisan game:

When the Supreme Court makes a decision, it inevitably answers a very difficult legal question. If the answers were clear, the case would never have come to trial in the High Court.

And the task facing the judges in deciding this case is vital to the nation, she wrote:

Given the potentially unconstitutional actions Trump has threatened if reelected, the country will need a strong and respected Supreme Court in the very near future. Those who are angry at the Court should actually be very happy that it is operating as usual here. If it were not, their fear that Trump would get away with it might well come true.

Read more: Supreme Court slow to decide whether Trump immunity is antithetical to politics

Donald Trump speaks after the appeal hearing on his request for immunity from prosecution, January 9, 2024, in Washington. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images 4. What this means for the future

Earlier this spring, Wofford noted some worrisome signs during oral arguments before the Supreme Court on April 25, 2024:

Several justices, from across the ideological spectrum, were very concerned about the practical implications of allowing a president to enjoy some immunity, or not allowing it.

For example, Wofford noted:

Justice Samuel Alito seemed genuinely concerned that the president could be politically prosecuted if he was not protected by immunity. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, meanwhile, said a president could take office knowing there would be no potential punishment for committing crimes.

Wofford expected the justices to try to avoid granting full immunity or no immunity at all and instead allow Trump’s federal trial for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election to proceed, based on the fact that many of his actions were private and unofficial. While that would also be perilous, Wofford wrote:

I wish the Supreme Court could decide this issue in some other way and not have so many people feel like the fate of our government and the stability of our system are at stake. If it doesn't make a clear and resounding statement that the president is not above the law, then I think we have a serious problem.

Read more: Trump's Supreme Court immunity arguments underscore dangers as prosecutors point to larger danger of removing legal accountability

This article is a summary of articles from The Conversations archives.

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