US Supreme Court doubts Trump's immunity – DW – 04/26/2024

Supreme Court America On Thursday (04/26/2024) there were doubts about his claim of complete presidential immunity Donald TrumpHe appears poised to issue a ruling that would further delay the Republican impeachment trial Election interference.

The ruling could have long-term ramifications for the executive branch, but also for Trump, a candidate for the November presidential election, and several legal problems.

“We're writing a statute for posterity,” said Judge Neil Gorsuch, one of three conservative justices appointed by the former Republican president.

By agreeing to continue the case, the Supreme Court effectively delayed the opening of a trial accusing Trump of conspiring to alter the results of the 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Special prosecutor Smith brought the case against Trump, 77, in August and has pushed for the trial to begin in March. But Trump's lawyers filed a flurry of motions to block it, including arguing that a former president enjoys “absolute immunity.”

Most of them Supreme Court JudgesIt is expected to issue its ruling by the end of June, disapproving of Trump's claim.

But at least four of the court's nine justices appeared to disagree with the lower court's ruling that a former president does not enjoy “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution after leaving office.

The chief justice of the Supreme Court, conservative John Roberts, told Michael Draben, who represented special counsel Jack Smith.

“As I read it, it says, 'The former president may be impeached because he is impeachable,'” Roberts said. “Why don't we send (the case) back to the appellate court or issue a ruling that makes it clear that it's not the law?”

Sending the case back to a lower court for additional review would delay Trump's election conspiracy trial until after the November election, in which he will once again face Democrat Joe Biden.

Justice Samuel Alito, another conservative, argued that if immunity is denied, there is nothing to prevent a future president from granting a pardon “for what he might have been accused of doing.”

gs (afp, Reuters)