Opinion: The Supreme Court Just Gave ‘King’ Trump License to Really Run Riot
In a decision everyone could have seen coming, the Supreme Court has now ruled that former president Trump, and future presidents, enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution provided that their actions could fairly, even arguably, be considered “official acts.”
Although cloaked in the language of a relatively narrow procedural ruling, one that sends the case back to the district court for further proceedings, it is hard to see this as anything other than raw politics, a thumb on the political scale for a candidate for the most important elected office in the nation from the highest and most powerful court in the land.
The Court has remanded the matter back to the district court to sort through the allegations contained in the criminal charges to determine which of those allegations are “official acts” and which are not. The trial judge must now make findings as to which allegations fall within this new, sweeping immunity and which are outside of it. And none of that has anything to do with the former president’s guilt or innocence with respect to any of these charges.