The U.S. Supreme Court, whose conservative supermajority was consolidated by Trump’s nominees, on Monday granted the former president partial immunity from legal proceedings as he seeks to avoid an indictment by special counsel Jack Smith over his efforts to block the transfer of power after the 2020 election.
For months, political analysts and court observers alike had been expecting the broad outline of this ruling: that presidents are entitled to considerable protection for their official acts. Yet Trump proclaimed it a victory.
“This is a great victory for our Constitution and democracy. I am proud to be an American!” Trump wrote in all capital letters on the Truth Social platform.
The decision means a trial in the case is almost certain to be delayed until after the November election, and if Trump wins, the Justice Department is almost certain to dismiss the case, according to people close to Trump.
For President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection, the ruling was not the most beneficial outcome for his efforts to paint Trump as dangerous — an impeachment affirmation would have accomplished that. Biden’s team immediately pointed to the verdict as evidence of the existential threat the sitting president has said his predecessor and potential successor pose to the country.
A statement attributed to a senior adviser to the Biden campaign said: “Today’s ruling does not change the facts, so let’s be crystal clear about what happened on January 6th: Donald Trump lost his temper after being defeated in the 2020 election and incited a mob in an attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Trump is now running for president as a convicted felon for the same reason he stood by as the mob violently attacked the Capitol: He believes he is above the law and is willing to do whatever it takes to win and hold on to power.”
Republicans were quick to point to the decision as another example of the kind of luck — partly of his own making, thanks to the Supreme Court he helped create — that Trump has so often had in his quest to push systems to their limits, and sometimes far beyond what is possible.
When Trump faced impeachment over the events of January 6, 2021, Republican after Republican justified their vote against convicting him in the Senate by arguing that the criminal justice system was the most appropriate venue for holding him accountable. Now, those same Republicans are backing Trump’s campaign for a second term, one in which the former president has promised to pursue a maximalist strategy in the executive branch and which would also come after the Supreme Court offered a very broad definition of official acts that enjoy immunity from legal proceedings.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he had been “harassed” by Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Biden, “for years.”
“And now the courts have given the final word,” Trump said, adding: “Now, I am free to run like anyone else. We are ahead in every poll, by a wide margin, and we will make America great again.”
Trump has always campaigned however he pleases — a mix of daytime golf games and a few rallies a month, combined with a handful of court appearances he chose to attend throughout 2023 and early 2024. Trump seemed to relish those moments and the media spectacle they created.
But in April, when what is almost certain to be the only criminal trial the former president will face before Election Day began in Manhattan, the pleasure all but faded.
After a six-week trial, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say he did to conceal a hush money bribe he paid to a porn star during his 2016 campaign.
Sentencing in that case is scheduled for July 11, and the Supreme Court ruling is unlikely to delay that process.
While the Supreme Court has already taken a first step in defining immunity, the timeline for what happens next is unclear. The court sent the case back to trial judge Tanya Chutkan, who must now decide whether to hold an abbreviated version of a trial to determine which of the allegations in the special counsel’s indictment constitute official acts and therefore could be immune from judicial proceedings under the Supreme Court’s decision released Monday.
Such proceedings, depending on the range of issues Chutkan allows to be discussed, could prove problematic in the details for Trump. The facts of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob — and the public lies Trump spread about winning the 2020 election in the weeks after the vote — certainly do not motivate undecided voters to cast their ballots for the former president.
Trump’s allies were therefore relieved that the opening questions in last week’s debate against Biden were not about the attack on the Capitol, which Trump continues to defend, but about the economy.
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A short trial could put the spotlight back on what happened that day in Washington. But Trump’s legal team has shown great skill at putting off resolving issues as long as possible, and it may not happen before the election. And even if it does happen, a real trial over Trump’s behavior to stay in power is still a long way off.
In any case, the hope of such a shortened trial could be the best option for Democrats seeking to continue highlighting Trump’s conduct to undermine the election.
“When Trump tried to overturn the results of an election he lost in 2020, that was not the official act of a president,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It was the act of a despotic narcissist who sought to overthrow our democracy in order to cling to power, and he must be held accountable for his actions.”
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