United States Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump had some immunity from prosecution as a former President, a ruling that would likely delay his trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 elections.
The 6-3 decision split along ideological lines comes four months ahead of the presidential election in which Trump is the Republican candidate to take on Democrat Joe Biden.
The historic case was the last heard during the court’s current term and had far-reaching implications for executive power and the White House race.
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, in his majority opinion, said a president was not above the law but did have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts taken while in office.
Roberts said the president therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts.
The chief justice added that the President however, has no immunity for his unofficial acts, sending the case back to a lower court to determine which of the charges facing the former president involves official or unofficial conduct.
A US District Court will now hold what is expected to be a series of lengthy pre-trial hearings, making a trial before the November election extremely unlikely.
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the US as well as conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of an official proceeding – the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress held to certify Biden’s victory.
He is also charged with conspiracy to deny Americans the right to vote and to have their votes counted.
The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying she was doing so “with fear for our democracy.”
AFP reports that the 78-year-old Trump, in a post on Truth Social, welcomed the ruling calling it a “big win for our Constitution and democracy.”
Biden’s reelection campaign team countered that Trump “thinks he’s above the law and is willing to do anything to gain and hold onto power for himself.”
But the Supreme Court – dominated by conservatives, including the three appointed by Trump – agreed in February to hear his argument for absolute presidential immunity, putting the case on hold while they considered the matter in April.