The Supreme Court’s late-term decision recognizing a dangerously expansive immunity from criminal prosecution for former presidents effectively cut off any chance of the original indictment in the January 6 case against former President Donald J. Trump going forward. But for all its terrible flaws, the immunity decision left a path for Special Counsel Jack Smith to pursue a narrowed case that targets only conduct for which Trump is not immune. So Smith seized that opportunity by filing a superseding—or amended —indictment against Trump on Tuesday.
The filing is an explosive reminder of the powerful criminal charges against Trump and puts the lie to those who said the case might be dead in the aftermath of the immunity decision. Together with the pretrial proceedings to follow, this development thrusts the question of Trump’s criminality back into public focus during the heart of the campaign.
