What is presidential immunity? Trump's Supreme Court decision explained.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for his private conduct, in a 6-3 decision that split the justices along ideological lines.

Here's what you need to know about the decision.

What is presidential immunity?

Broadly speaking, this decision refers to the legal theory that past and present presidents enjoy some protection from legal liability. In the context of Monday’s Supreme Court decision, it is the decision that Trump and others are absolutely immune from prosecution for actions taken in the exercise of their fundamental constitutional powers, and are entitled to a presumption of immunity for their official acts. It does not provide protection for private or unofficial acts.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said presidential immunity is necessary to ensure a strong and independent executive branch and to avoid a self-cannibalizing executive branch, in which each successive president is free to prosecute his predecessors but unable to exercise his office boldly and fearlessly for fear of being the next one.

But the majority opinion said the government could overcome the presumption of immunity for the official acts of a former president if it can demonstrate that continuing the specific conduct does not impinge on the authority and functions of the executive branch, the Washington Post reported.

What are the official and unofficial acts defined by the Supreme Court?

On July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump enjoys absolute immunity for clearly official acts as president, changing the course of his January 6 trial. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

The Supreme Court has held that a president's official conduct can extend to all actions as long as they do not manifestly or palpably exceed his authority.

He said the official conduct for which Trump is immune from prosecution includes his discussions with Justice Department officials following the 2020 presidential election, in which he sought to convince them to aggressively pursue baseless allegations of voter fraud.

But while Trump's attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to change the election results may be considered official conduct, for which he is presumptively immune, prosecutors may argue that a charge related to communications with the vice president about certifying President Biden's victory does not infringe on executive branch functions, the Post reported.

Trump’s interactions with state officials and private citizens during his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, however, cannot be clearly classified as official conduct, according to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion. The court ordered the D.C. district court to determine in the first instance whether Trump’s conduct in this area qualifies as official or unofficial.

Most of a president's public communications are likely to fall comfortably within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities, meaning they are covered by immunity, the justices also said.

What does the presidential immunity ruling mean for Trump?

In the short term, the ruling favors Trump in the election interference case he faces in Washington, D.C., where his claim for presidential immunity prompted Monday's decision.

The case in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in which Trump faces four counts related to the charge that he conspired to overturn the January 6 election, has been significantly impacted by the Supreme Court’s decision and will now be delayed while the judge determines which of his actions were official, and therefore immune from prosecution, and which were unofficial and could be prosecuted. That is highly unlikely to happen before the November election.

Among the two other criminal cases against Trump, the ruling could also have implications for the Georgia state election interference case. It is less certain whether it will have implications for the case he faces in Florida, over classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago after his presidency. His lawyers have already sought to challenge his conviction in New York for concealing a bribe payment made to an adult film actress shortly before the 2016 election.

More broadly, critics of the Supreme Court decision, including President Biden, have warned that Trump could be emboldened in a possible second term, knowing he would enjoy immunity for actions that might previously have exposed him to prosecution.

What was the dissent from the decision?

The court was divided along ideological lines, with a conservative majority consisting of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, the latter three Trump appointees who ruled in favor of the former president, and liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan dissenting.

In a blistering statement, Sotomayor listed the actions she said would be protected by the ruling, including a president staging a military coup, assassinating a rival or accepting a bribe in exchange for a pardon. This deeply flawed ruling reshapes the institution of the presidency and makes a mockery of the fundamental principle of our Constitution and system of government that no man is above the law, she wrote.

The long-term consequences of today's decision are stark, she wrote, adding: “In every exercise of official power, the president is now a king above the law.”

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