This decision creates “fundamentally a new principle and a dangerous precedent because the power (of the president) will no longer be limited by law”the Democratic president said in a televised address to the nation.
The conservative-majority US Supreme Court on Monday extended the president’s criminal immunity, a victory for Donald Trump, whose federal trial has been delayed once again.
By deciding on February 28 to take up this question, then by scheduling the debates nearly three months later, the highest court in the United States had already considerably postponed the federal trial of the former Republican president for attempting to illegally reverse the results of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.
“Emboldened to do what he wants, when he wants”
By a majority of six to three – conservative justices against progressives – the Court held that “The President has no immunity for his unofficial acts” but that he “is entitled to at least a presumption of immunity for his official acts”. On behalf of the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts justified this decision with: “constant principles of separation of powers”.
The Court therefore refers the case back to the court of first instance to determine which acts are potentially immune from criminal prosecution. The burden is on the prosecution to demonstrate that they are not when they were carried out in the exercise of its functions.
Donald Trump welcomed a “historic decision”ensuring that it invalidated the bulk of the charges in the four criminal proceedings against him.
By this case law, Donald Trump will be “emboldened to do what he wants, when he wants” in the event of victory in the presidential election in November, his Democratic opponent estimated.
