The US Supreme Court has made a hugely significant and equally controversial judgment. It is one which could affect the results of the 2024 election, the rule of law and democratic institutions in the United States and shape the powers of the nation’s highest office for years to come.
In its ruling on presidential immunity, relating to a case brought by the US special counsel, Jack Smith, alleging that Donald Trump had attempted to subvert US democracy by interfering in the results of the 2020 election, the nine-member supreme court, led by the chief justice, John Roberts, appears to have effectively deteriorated into a personal court for Trump. It can no longer be seen – as it has since it was first founded in 1789 – as an impartial guardrail to protect American citizens from autocratic power grabs.
The majority judgment of the court argued that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution. The decision predictably fell along ideological lines of six to three, with Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown strongly dissenting. In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor wrote that the ruling makes a “mockery of the Constitution”.
