The US Supreme Court says Donald Trump and other former presidents are partially immune from criminal prosecution.
The justices ruled 6-3 that presidents do have immunity for “official acts” taken in office, but he is not immune for “unofficial acts”.
The court’s majority says it was for the trial judge to work out which allegations constitute official acts in the indictment under which Trump is charged with plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
The three liberal justices on the Court however dissented strongly.
The decision makes it less likely that Trump will stand trial in the case filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith before November’s White House election.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment on Monday’s hotly anticipated decision.
“Big win for our constitution and democracy,” Trump reacted on social media to the outcome.
The Republican presidential candidate had argued that he was entitled to absolute immunity from the charges, but two lower courts rejected that claim.
Monday’s majority opinion by the highest court in the land cited elements of the indictment that justices categorised as official acts of the presidency, and thus shielded from prosecution.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Trump was acting in his official capacity when he directed the Department of Justice to discuss investigating purported election fraud with the states.
He was also judged to be acting within his official capacity when he pressed then-Vice-President Mike Pence to not certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Justice Roberts wrote: “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.
In her dissent, Sotomayor argued that ruling would protect a president if he or she ordered US special forces to assassinate a political rival, organised a military coup to hold on to power, or took bribes in exchange for conferring a pardon.
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