Former President Donald Trump has responded to Monday's historic Supreme Court decision in his presidential immunity case.
The court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that Trump and all former and future presidents have immunity from prosecution over acts conducted while serving in an official capacity as commander-in-chief—but not for actions conducted as private citizens.
The vote was split along ideological lines, with conservatives holding the majority.
The majority wrote in the ruling that a president cannot properly carry out their duties with the threat of prosecution looming over them. Instead, they must have "at least a presumptive immunity" for "acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility."
Trump responded to the news by calling for all investigations and charges against him to be dropped.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote:Today’s Historic Decision by the Supreme Court should end all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the New York Hoaxes - The Manhattan SCAM cooked up by Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, Racist New York Attorney General Tish James’ shameless ATTACK on the amazing business that I have built, and the FAKE Bergdorf’s “case.” PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!
Now, the judge in the case over whether or not Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election must determine if the actions cited in the indictment were carried out as a private citizen or as the president.
"The ruling is a major blow for prosecutors, who now face the burden of proving that Trump's actions were not official acts. Doing so may take months of evidentiary hearings and court rulings that could further narrow the case," Reuters reports. "The decision also limits the evidence prosecutors can use to charge Trump for actions that were clearly not official. Under the ruling, any evidence related to official actions for which Trump is immune cannot be used as evidence of another crime."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, "Never in the history of our republic has a president had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. ... With fear for our democracy, I dissent."
