Trump has immunity for official acts, not private: US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court for the first time has recognised that ex-presidents have immunity from prosecution for certain actions taken in office, as it threw out a judicial decision rejecting Donald Trump's bid to shield himself from criminal charges involving his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss.

The court ruled 6-3 on Monday that while former presidents enjoy immunity for actions they take within their constitutional authority, they do not for actions taken in a private capacity.

Trump hailed a "big win" for democracy after the US Supreme Court ruled that presidents have presumptive immunity for official acts — a decision set to delay his trial for conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss.

"Big win for our constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American!" Trump posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform.

The ruling marked the first time since the nation's 18th-century founding that the Supreme Court has declared that former presidents may be shielded from criminal charges in any instance.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced the landmark ruling on behalf of the court's six-justice conservative majority. The court's three liberal justices dissented.

The decision came in Trump's appeal of a lower court ruling rejecting his immunity claim. The court decided the case on the last day of its term.

Warning of presidential 'blackmail and extortion'

Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 US election in a rematch from four years ago.

The court's slow handling of the blockbuster case already had helped Trump by making it unlikely that any trial on these charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be completed before the election.

Trump had argued that he was immune from prosecution because he was serving as president when he took the actions that led to the charges. Smith had opposed presidential immunity from prosecution based on the principle that no one is above the law.

During April 25 arguments in the case, Trump's legal team urged the justices to fully shield former presidents from criminal charges - "absolute immunity" - for official acts taken in office.

Without immunity, Trump's lawyer said, sitting presidents would face "blackmail and extortion" by political rivals due to the threat of future prosecution.

The court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices Trump appointed. Smith's election subversion charges embody one of the four criminal cases Trump has faced.

First former president criminally prosecuted

Trump, 78, is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted as well as the first former president convicted of a crime.

In the special counsel's August 2023 indictment, Trump was charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to do so, and conspiring against the right of Americans to vote.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump's trial had been scheduled to start on March 4 before the delays over the immunity issue. Now, no trial date is set. Trump made his immunity claim to the trial judge in October, meaning the issue has been litigated for about nine months.

In a separate case brought in New York state court, Trump was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan on May 30 on 34 counts of falsifying documents to cover up hush money paid to an adult movie actress to avoid a scandal before the 2016 election.

Trump has also faced criminal charges in two other cases. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and called all the cases against him politically motivated.

A lawyer for the special counsel's office told the Supreme Court during arguments that the "absolute immunity" sought by Trump would shield presidents from criminal liability for bribery, treason, sedition, murder, and, as in this case, trying to overturn the proper results of an election and stay in power.

During the arguments, justices asked hypothetical questions involving a president selling nuclear secrets, taking a bribe or ordering a coup or political assassination.

If such actions were official conduct, Trump's lawyer argued, a former president could be charged only if first impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate - something that has never happened in US history.

In a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, just 27 percent of respondents - 9 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of independents - agreed that presidents should be immune from prosecution unless they have been impeached and convicted by Congress.