The Supreme Court decided this week to uphold Presidential immunity, potentially dealing a death knell to the ongoing prosecution against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The 6-3 decision fell along expected lines, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson descending.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who penned the majority opinion, joined fellow judges Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barret in supporting Presidential immunity as laid out in the United States Constitution. While the document does not specifically detail such absolution, it explains the paramount importance of the separation of powers and the explicit need for any President to retain unconditional independence in executive decision-making. Subsequent Supreme Court cases have clarified that such separation amounts to immunity of official acts in office.
The ruling is germane to the ongoing campaign in that it effectively halts the current legal case against Donald Trump regarding January 6th, brought by White House Special Counsel Jack Smith. While opponents had hoped the issue would damage or entirely thwart Trump’s campaign, SCOTUS has effectively removed the subject from the ballot for now. Smith has requested additional time to prepare a new case. The decision also introduces issues for New York v Trump, an unrelated case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg regarding falsified business records. Trump’s counsel in the case now argues that testimony from former White House officials on acts by the President is rendered inappropriate given the clarification on immunity.
A third case regarding the retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago has been dismissed entirely, which had included 37 felony counts. US District Judge Aileen Canon invalidated the original indictment, arguing that the Senate had not confirmed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate, nor had the money funding his witch-hunt been properly appropriated. Congress was granted oversight in the appointment of officers, which the executive branch cannot by law circumvent. This Florida case would likely have been rendered moot by the SCOTUS decision but was thrown out first on procedural grounds.
A fourth case against the former President regarding January 6th was likewise stymied when the Judge dismissed six charges due to insufficient detail. The lingering case in Georgia remains shaky due to the affair uncovered between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade, who helped the DA bring charges. The Georgia Court of Appeals is currently considering whether to disqualify Willis, a decision to be rendered following the November election.
However one feels about Republican nominee Donald Trump, the unfolding legal drama makes clear that Democrats, along with their leader, President Biden, have used the court system to manipulate the electoral process. Including efforts by state legislatures and attorneys general to remove his name from ballots before a conviction has been made, Donald J. Trump has withstood every attack and moves into the November election as the only candidate properly selected through a democratic process. Voters must show they will not be manipulated or otherwise persuaded to vote for candidates they neither chose nor felt represented by. 2024 is a watershed moment in electoral integrity, and Americans must decide whether to hand future elections over to party elites and closed-door negotiations or remain a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
How do you feel about the SCOTUS decision regarding Trump’s Presidential Immunity? How will it impact the remainder of the campaigns?
Hilary Gunn is a Connecticut native with a degree in Criminal Justice from the George Washington University. She works for a nonprofit and has previously collaborated with the CT GOP as an activist, political campaign manager and field director, and social media organizer. She is currently serving in her fourth term of municipal office and has previously acted as a delegate on the Republican Town Committee.