(WatchDogReport.org) – The United States Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump can’t be prosecuted for actions he committed within his constitutional powers as a commander-in-chief. Political analysts said that the decision recognized for the first time in US history any type of presidential immunity from prosecution.
In a historic 6-3 ruling that was authored by the court’s Chief Justice John Roberts, the justices formally dismissed a decision from a lower court that rejected Trump’s claims of immunity from some federal criminal charges. These involved his alleged efforts to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election. The six justices who voted in favor were the conservatives, while all who dissented were the liberals.
Legal experts explained that the decision benefits the Republican leader because it returns the main questions about the focus of his immunity to the trial judge, which makes it almost impossible for Trump to be tried before the presidential election. Many political reporters have been saying over the last few months that many Democrats expected Trump to be charged with election interference, as they believe it would have severely affected his popularity among independent voters.
In the ruling, Roberts wrote the Supreme Court concluded that the presidential power needs that every former president to have “some immunity” from prosecution for any official act that happened during his time in office. He added that immunity for any president or former president is “absolute” concerning their essential “constitutional powers.”
Roberts also wrote that former presidents also have a “presumptive immunity” for every act committed within the broad scope of his official duties, which means that prosecutors in the country must meet a high legal standard to challenge that presumption.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, US President Joe Biden said in a televised speech at the White House that the decision set a “dangerous precedent” as he claimed that the presidency’s power won’t be “constrained” by law. One of his presidential campaign officials eventually claimed that the decision allows Trump to turn the American democracy into a dictatorship.
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