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Court finds presidents entitled to 'absolute immunity' from prosecution for official acts

The supreme court holds that a former president has absolute immunity for his core constitutional powers.

But the court finds that former presidents are not entitled to immunity from prosecution for actions taken in a private capacity.

Writing the court’s opinion, chief justice John Roberts says:

Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.


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Court finds presidents not entitled to immunity for unofficial acts
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the court’s opinion, says:

This case poses a question of lasting significance: When may a former President be prosecuted for official acts taken during his Presidency? In answering that question, unlike the political branches and the public at large, the Court cannot afford to fixate exclusively, or even primarily, on present exigencies. Enduring separation of powers principles guide our decision in this case. The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But under our system of separated powers, the President may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for his official acts. That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...rt-trump-immunity-claim-decision-updates

Here’s how the supreme court voted in the Trump immunity case.

In a 6:3 ruling, the justices said that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for their official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.

Go ahead and do whatever you want, Joe!! You ain’t even gotta leave if you lost the election now. Just claim it’s rigged and do what you can to stay in office.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

So we're pretty much back to where we started. It's always been known that a president has immunity for official acts. The question all along has been whether trying to overturn an election and preventing turning over power is considered an official act. It seems all they did was state the obvious as it was before and settled nothing. Kicking the can even further down the road.

So Biden can declare Trump a traitor and have him executed before the election. Go for it Joe.

Actually they refused to make it clear what an official act is and what an unofficial act is. It settled nothing and left things no less murky than they were before.

Declaring Trump a traitor would be official business in my book.

I honestly never thought otherwise. Trumps team is celebrating but for what? nobody I know of ever questioned that they have immunity for official acts. It's the unofficial acts that I was concerned with. Like starting a riot on Jan 6. He'll try to make it sound like it's an official act but I doubt he wins that fight. Rules are such regarding documents and what a president is and isn't allowed to take. I don't think that lets him off the hook for that.

This ruling doesn't get him off the hook for the 34 count conviction or the E. Jean Carrol case. So I'm not at all sure what the big deal is.

They did leave murky what would be considered an official act vs an unofficial act, but some stuff is pretty clear.

At the end of the day, for me, trump has to be defeated in November. Then we can take our time and go for everything..

My biggest fear is that with this ruling, people like Trump and his type have been given an inch and will try to take a mile. We are about to become NAZI America...

No more POTUS… now we have temp dictators. POS Conservative SCOTUS must be balanced. They made bribes legal and tyrants free to rape our institutions. I hope GOPers like the bed they’ve made. They’ll be lying in it for the next 20 years. Can’t wait to see Trump soundly defeated again and what Biden will do with these new powers.

Meanwhile Steve Bannon reports to jail for his part in contempt of congress on the Jan 6th hearings. Everybody going to jail for trumps doings, except Trump. Lol

Arch, I understand some of this a little bit differently on how this was written.

trump taking nuke secrets because they are his-Is that a official act while president?
selling a ambassadorship for some personal gain-taking a bribe. Is it an official act to appoint an ambassador?
trump going to the eclipse and telling his supporters to crash the congress or try to have his people start a coup? was he president when that happened? is that an official act?
a president telling the military to shoot protestors, shoot people crossing the border or enacting the insurrection act within the US. If a pres makes these decisions as part of official duty, are they immune?

There is something that the chief justice wrote that I have to dig up later or tomorrow at lunch that pertains to trump-and as I heard it on one of the mainstream shows today, it basically says that the special counsel cannot investigate the presidents correspondence with the DOJ if it was immune even if through discovery the special counsel would find private acts that would be used in criminal behavior.

And on your last line, on what we are about to become, look into project 2025 a bit. That will give you a roadmap

Why was that addressed to me? I haven't, until now, posted in this thread. At least that I can see.

Arch, sorry was replying to Daman. Was multitasking

AOC and Pelosi are losing their marbles

Yeah seeing a democracy die sends true patriots over the edge.

Of course they ruled that way. I am just surprised it wasn't unanimous.

Hysterical libtards kept it from being unanimous.

The way I see it, this SCOTUS ruling takes prosecution off the table, so future traitorous Kings of America will have to be dealt with BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE. That could mean a lot of things, but I see a rise in attempted/assassinations around the corner. That’s the only way to end tyrants with total legal immunity. What the hell have we become because of this one man and the turd burglars on the right?… a POS country…

You are unhinged.

MAGA and the rightwing are unhinged, literally destroying this country. Traitors to the man.

smh






Continued proof there is a parrot narrative and President Biden has no clue what he is saying.

Just wondering... With this ruling, does that mean Biden can have Trump executed along with the Conservative SCOTUS's and the MAGA Congress persons? Maybe Bannon and Navarro and Rudy and the Pillow guy? And still remain Immune if he feels its an official act?

Just wondering!

That’s the way I read it. A sitting prez can declare anything they do during their presidency an official act. And it’s going to take years in court for US to fight it. The Supreme Court just muddled the waters big time.

He would need to argue that it was "conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority" use of Article II power. The president has absolute immunity IF AND ONLY IF it is a use of "conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority". Other official acts have a presumption of immunity. That immunity can still be removed through the courts, but it would be a difficult row to hoe.


That said political murder does not speak to "saving our democracy".

It would if Biden actually went there, but he won’t because he’s an actual presidential acting president.

Yeah, it seems idiocy is flowing from both sides. trump thinks he just got a get out of jail free card and the left thinks trump just got a get out of jail free card too. That's not even close to what happened here.

You need to read it again. Their ruling changed nothing. It has always been legal for a president to have immunity for official acts. They didn't muddy the waters any more than they already were. That's the actual problem here. They didn't do anything to clear the water either. Which is why the liberal justices didn't go along with the ruling. Here is part of the ruling from Roberts.....


This isn't the total immunity trump was looking for and the victory he is claiming it is. This isn't the total immunity liberals are making it sound like it is.

The main problem I see with it is that most people who understood what presidential immunity did and didn't mean before this ruling realize that it was a meaningless ruling. It changed nothing and clarified nothing. They simply licked the can back down the road for the lower courts to decide.

This will chap some asses.

Yes it is. trump will fight the courts and prosecution to the hilt. It will take years to un muddy what the SCOTUS has opined.

Went after their predecessors? Since when is your partisan politically charged Twitter BS going to chap anyone's ass? Cheap entertainment and the foolishness you just shared is at most mildly entertaining.

So same as it ever was makes things worse than they were?

Umm yeah because the SCOTUS took up the case and ruled Trump has immunity for his official actions while president. I’m sorry you can’t see what’s going on here. Things have changed, Trump will fight on this basis. The ruling should have been as it always has been, the POTUS doesn’t have total immunity to high crimes and misdemeanors. Period.

Just remember guys, the Supreme Court ruling is just another thing that will vote republicans in the butt in the future, just like overturning Roe.

MAGA is celebrating now, right up until a democrat president does something they can’t get charged for cause they have immunity lmao

I thought this part of Robert's opinion would have cleared that up for you....

"The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the president does is official."

This in and of itself makes it clear a president doesn't have total immunity.

If true, Biden has total immunity from that according to the SCOTUS ruling.

That's not what the SCOTUS ruling said.