The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on July 1 that former U.S. President Donald Trump can be granted immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken toward the end of his presidency, but not for actions taken in his private capacity. The U.S. Supreme Court remanded Trump's immunity case back to a lower court, requiring it to evaluate which of Trump's actions would qualify for immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump called the ruling a "major victory."
Protesters hold anti-Trump banners outside the U.S. Supreme Court on July 1. (AFP)
U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Smith filed four counts last August against Trump for linking him to the 2021 Capitol Hill riot. Mr. Trump has been asking the court to dismiss the case on the grounds of presidential immunity, but it has not been upheld. Trump later applied to the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
The conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three judges appointed during Trump's term, agreed in February to hear Trump's defense of presidential immunity and suspended the case, AFP said. In April this year, the Supreme Court heard arguments from both the prosecution and the defence. According to the US media, the Supreme Court does not seem to have given "one-sided" support to both sides, and the judges are skeptical of Trump's claims, and some have questioned whether this means that the president can commit crimes "with impunity", but they also do not fully agree with the prosecution.
According to NBC News, the Supreme Court has faced fierce criticism from the left — partly because it decided to hear Trump, which prevented the March trial, and partly because it took a long time to make a decision, making the trial difficult or even impossible before the election.
According to AFP, the Supreme Court's ruling further postponed the federal election trial. The case will be remanded back to the lower court to sort out which of the charges against Trump involve "acts of duty" and which are personal, which is a complex exercise. Trump called this "a huge victory for our constitution and democracy" on the 1st, and Biden issued a statement saying that the ruling could not change the fact that Trump "tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election."
While Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in the hush money case in May, his lawyers successfully shelved three other trials by filing multiple pretrial motions, one involving the federal election case and the top-secret documents he kept at his home, the report said. If re-elected, Trump could order an end to the trial against him after he was sworn in in January 2025.
Source: Global Times special correspondent Yu Wen