Supreme Court: Trump Has 'Absolute Immunity' For Core Constitutional Powers

The court found that Trump is entitled to presumptive immunity from prosecution for presidential acts.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has found Donald Trump enjoys complete immunity for clearly “official acts” he took while in office and at least “presumptive immunity” for other official acts as president. The decision, which was 6-3 along ideological lines, did not grant immunity for unofficial acts.

The opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and agreed to by the other five conservative justices, finds that Trump has immunity for conduct involving officials solely within his own administration but not necessarily for actions involving state officials and people not in government.

“First, with respect to any criminal conduct relating to a President’s ‘core constitutional powers’ — those subjects ‘within his “conclusive and preclusive” constitutional authority’ — the President is entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution,” the opinion says.

It found he has no immunity at all for actions that are not “official.”

It sent the case back to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which actions alleged in the indictment constitute “official” actions for which he has immunity to make sure prosecutors cannot use evidence obtained regarding that conduct. The lower court is ordered to review, among other things, “whether a prosecution involving Trump’s alleged attempts to influence the Vice President’s oversight of the certification proceeding [on Jan. 6] would pose any dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch.”