U.S. Supreme Court Grants Donald Trump 'Limited Immunity'

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a historic ruling regarding the charges against Donald Trump, stated that the former President of the United States has complete immunity for his official actions but not for his unofficial actions. Meanwhile, the judges of this court on Monday, July 2, did not issue a final ruling and ordered lower local courts to decide on handling Donald Trump's case. The result of this decision is that the handling of Mr. Trump's charges regarding his refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election will face further delays, and he will not be tried before the presidential election this November. This ruling was issued with the approval of six conservative members and the dissent of three liberal members of the court. The text of the ruling was drafted by John Roberts, one of the conservative judges of the Supreme Court. John Roberts wrote in part of this ruling: 'We concluded that based on the structure of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the separation of powers, the nature of the President's power necessitates a degree of immunity from legal prosecution regarding his actions and decisions during his tenure in office.' The Supreme Court's ruling adds: 'This immunity is at least absolute concerning his actions within the framework of the powers granted to the President by the Constitution. In other areas of official and governmental actions, he is also entitled to immunity.' John Roberts further clarified that the local court's ruling will be referred back to this court for reconsideration. The Supreme Court examined four categories of Mr. Trump's actions mentioned in the indictment against him to issue this ruling. The first category of charges relates to his conversations with Justice Department officials after the results of the 2020 election became clear. The second category of charges concerns Mr. Trump's pressure on Mike Pence, the Vice President, to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the election. The third category involves the former President's active role in organizing fake voters for him, and the fourth category pertains to Mr. Trump's behavior and actions on the day of the attack on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. The Supreme Court explicitly stated in its conclusion that Mr. Trump has complete immunity in the first category of charges, namely the conversations with Justice Department officials, but referred the case back to the local court for reconsideration regarding his immunity in the other three categories of charges. This is the first time in American history since the founding of the country in the late 18th century that the Supreme Court has issued a ruling stating that a former President may have immunity against some of the charges brought against him. This unprecedented ruling is the second opinion of this court regarding the former President and the upcoming candidate in the U.S. elections. The Supreme Court overturned a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court on March 6 regarding the prohibition of Donald Trump's candidacy in that state's elections. The Colorado Supreme Court had deemed Mr. Trump's active role in the attack by his supporters on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, as 'participation in insurrection' and ruled to prohibit his candidacy in the elections based on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified that states can only prohibit state officeholders, and such decisions regarding federal officials, especially the presidency, are solely in Congress's purview. The new ruling issued by the Supreme Court on Monday regarding Trump's interference in the 2020 election came more than two months after examining the evidence and documentation and took longer to issue than significant presidential-related cases in American history, including the Watergate scandal. Donald Trump has denied the charges brought by Jack Smith, the special prosecutor in this case, stating that these charges and others in three other cases against him in U.S. courts are politically motivated and designed to prevent his return to the White House. The former President of the United States is set to compete again with Joe Biden for the presidency this November. On June 1 of this year, he was found guilty by a jury in a New York court in the case of paying hush money to a porn star on all 34 counts. The judge in that court is set to announce Donald Trump's sentencing on July 11, three days before the final Republican Party meeting to officially announce Mr. Trump's candidacy for the presidential election. The main issue in the 'hush money' case was based on the indictment by the New York prosecutor, which accused Mr. Trump of paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, shortly before the 2016 presidential election to prevent the disclosure of his sexual relationship with her. The former President of the United States was charged with 34 counts of misdemeanors for manipulating and falsifying business documents, which the prosecution stated was aimed at concealing the hush money payment. Jack Smith has opened two cases against Mr. Trump, both leading to criminal indictments against him. The Washington case focuses on Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election after his defeat by Joe Biden, which also led to the attack by his supporters on the Capitol building that year. The second case opened by the special prosecutor against him is being handled in Florida, based on the removal of classified documents from the White House by Mr. Trump after his term ended and his resistance to government efforts to recover these documents. In this case, Trump is also accused of unlawfully retaining classified documents that were apparently prepared by the Pentagon for an attack on Iran.