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Supreme Court Grants Trump Broad Immunity from Criminal Prosecution

HeadlineJul 02, 2024

The United States Supreme Court ruled Monday that Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution for “official” actions taken as president. The 6-3 ruling by the court’s right-wing majority — including all three justices appointed by Trump — was issued on the final day of the Supreme Court’s term and just four months ahead of November’s presidential election. It will further delay Trump’s criminal trial for leading the January 6 insurrection. The ruling upends more than two centuries of legal precedent, for the first time shielding U.S. presidents from criminal accountability.

In a scathing dissent signed by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “Never in the history of our republic has a president had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former presidents will be cloaked in such immunity.”

Donald Trump celebrated the ruling on social media, writing, ”BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” President Biden denounced the ruling in a five-minute speech from the White House.

President Joe Biden: “This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States. But today’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed.”

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