In a 6-3 ruling voting down ideological lines that the Supreme Court has ruled that the President does have ” some immunity” while in office if only under “official acts” while in office. Former presidents have full immunity from prosecution for actions that were within their constitutional powers as president, but not for private acts.
This decision rendered by the Court seemingly broadly but does not clarify what are, “offical acts”and further stated in their reasoning that saying presidents cannot carry out their duties effectively with the threat of potential prosecution hanging over every decision. A former president has “at least a presumptive immunity” for “acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,” the court asserted.
This is a critical blow for any Prosecution for the government to what is an “offical act” for a President and what isn’t. To do this would take months of evidentiary hearings and court rulings that could further narrow the case.
The liberal wing of the court saw it differently. They essentially the President Cart Blanche to do as they pleased regardless of the circumstances
In a written dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that under the interpretation presented in the ruling, a president could not be prosecuted for organizing a military coup, taking bribes or even ordering the assassination of a political rival.
“Never in the history of our republic has a president had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. … With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” Sotomayor said.
We’ll see how this will effect the other cases again’t the former President and how the charges will be amended if any of the other cases can still move forward and possibly when.
Former Attorney and fix it man, Michael Cohen took this wittiness stand in the election fraud case of the state vs former President Donald J Trump.
