STORY: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that presidents have "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution over what the justices said were "official acts," in a critical case over whether Donald Trump can be charged for allegedly plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The landmark ruling recognizes - for the first time ever - any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.
The 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts split down partisan lines, and threw out a lower court's decision rejecting Trump's claim of immunity from criminal charges.
It ordered the lower court to evaluate which of the alleged crimes in the indictment were "official," and therefore immune from prosecution, and which were "unofficial," and potentially criminal.
The Supreme Court's slow handling of the immunity case has already helped Trump by making it unlikely that any trial on charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith could be completed before the election.
:: August 1, 2023
"Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding."
Smith indicted Trump in August of last year.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Trump's actions alleged in the indictment included efforts to fire and replace officials at the Justice Department, pressing Vice President Mike Pence to illegally reject state electoral votes, and working with state officials to concoct fraudulent slates of electors to support him.
:: January 6, 2021
The special counsel also accused Trump of fueling his supporters' violent efforts to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But the Supreme Court ruled that a president has "absolute immunity" for decisions governing appointments within the executive branch, including at the Justice Department, and that his communications with the vice president and with his supporters could be viewed as official acts.
Liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor excoriated the majority decision in a dissent, writing: "Today's decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law."
She added that the majority believed Trump should enjoy immunity from prosecution, "and so it invents an atextual, ahistorical, and unjustifiable immunity that puts the President above the law."
Donald Trump praised the decision, writing on social media, "BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"
The 78-year-old is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted as well as the first former president convicted of a crime.
President Joe Biden's re-election campaign said in a statement: "Today's ruling doesn't change the facts, so let's be very clear about what happened on January 6: Donald Trump snapped after he lost the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overthrow the results of a free and fair election."
