(Updated with details)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled partially in favor of former President Donald Trump, who claimed total immunity from lawsuits against him.
The high court, by 6 votes to 3, considers that total immunity only applies to decisions taken within the framework of its presidential functions but that it cannot apply to criminal acts committed in a private context.
“We have concluded that under our constitutional separation of powers structure, the nature of presidential power requires that the former president enjoy some immunity from criminal conviction for official acts committed while in office,” the conservative-majority Supreme Court’s ruling said.
“At least with respect to the president’s exercise of his presidential power, this immunity must be absolute. For the rest of his presidential actions, he is also subject to immunity.”
The former White House occupant congratulated himself in a post on social networks on a “great victory for our Constitution and our democracy.”
Donald Trump, who intends to run in the presidential election on November 5, had referred the matter to the Supreme Court in particular regarding the proceedings against him for having attempted to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election, won by his rival Democrat Joe Biden, and for the storming of the Capitol by supporters on January 6, 2021.
The court ruled on four categories of conduct in Donald Trump’s indictment: his discussions with the Justice Department following the 2020 election, his alleged pressure on the vice president of the he Mike Pence era to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, his alleged role in building fake pro-Trump supporters, and his behavior related to the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol.
The court ruled that Donald Trump had absolute immunity on the issue of discussions with the Justice Department but left to another court to determine whether the former president is entitled to immunity for the three other categories.
(John Kruzel and Andrew Chung, French version Tangi Salaün, Sophie Louet and Zhifan Liu, editing by Kate Entringer)
