The United States Supreme Court has handed former president Donald Trump what may be the most favorable legal decision he could have reasonably hoped for in his fight against federal prosecution for his attempts to reverse the 2020 election outcome.
Justices split along ideological lines in a 6-3 decision issued on July 1, 2024, in which the conservative-dominated court declared that a former president has “some immunity for criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office.”
The majority’s use of the word “some,” however, obscures the extent to which its opinion ensures that it will be much more difficult for special counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump for actions taken around the 2020 election, much less win that prosecution.
