The Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, further delaying Smith’s case against Trump.
There is a “silver lining” for special counsel Jack Smith after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, an attorney has said.
In a historic 6-3 ruling on July 1, the nation’s highest court decided for the first time that former presidents have immunity for official acts, but not for unofficial acts.
The ruling, issued on the last day of the court’s term, extends the delay in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The decision sent the case back to a lower court, where U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who would preside over Trump’s trial, must determine what is left of Smith’s indictment.
Tristan Snell, a legal analyst and former New York assistant attorney who helped lead the prosecution against Trump University, discussed the case in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter. He wrote that the coming months “could be brutal” for Trump.
“WTF is going to happen now in the DC case after the Supreme Court immunity ruling? There is a silver lining here”, Snell wrote.
“Judge Chutkan now takes back over—with a ‘fact-specific analysis’ on whether Trump’s actions were ‘official acts’ or not”, he continued. “This could be brutal for Trump.”
Smith’s case indicted Trump on four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, related to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
