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Chief Justice Roberts wrote that in some circumstances, presidents must know that they have immunity from criminal prosecution; otherwise, their ability to do their jobs could be affected.
Roberts continues that future judges also cannot find that a president’s action is unofficial “merely because it allegedly violates a generally applicable law.”
In taking its time to craft this ruling, justices have essentially handed Trump another victory for his delay tactics.
Conservative justices, including the Trump-appointed Neil Gorsuch, stressed that the case before them was of far more importance than just the facts of what the former president is accused of doing after the 2020 election.
“The most powerful person in the world with the greatest amount of authority could go into office knowing there would be no potential penalty for committing crimes,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said during oral arguments.
Democratic lawmakers had pressed Alito to step aside after The New York Times reported that a flag had been flown upside down at Alito’s Virginia home following the 2020 election, an established sign of distress that at the time was viewed as a symbol of solidarity for Trump’s false claims the election was stolen.
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Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday night, Will Scharf, an attorney for the former president, laid out the next steps for special counsel Jack Smith’s case following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have absolute immunity for their official acts but no immunity for private acts.
In a federal indictment filed in August, Trump is facing four charges pertaining to his alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Speaking to Collins, Scharf said that Smith’s “case should be dismissed” because it concerns official acts not private ones.
Meanwhile Trump celebrated the ruling in a post to Truth Social, writing: "BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY.
The Biden campaign, on the other hand, said the ruling would not “change the facts” that Trump tried to “overthrow the results of a free and fair election.”
“Trump is already running for president as a convicted felon for the very same reason he sat idly by while the mob violently attacked the Capitol: he thinks he’s above the law and is willing to do anything to gain and hold onto power for himself.”
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