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Trump is “absolutely” immune for “official acts” on Jan 6th, SCOTUS rules (www.theverge.com)

submitted 4 months ago by some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to c/politics@lemmy.world

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[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago

That's not what they ruled at all. They said there was immunity for official acts, specifically citing constitutional powers like appointing judges, commanding the military and recognizing foreign states. That was honestly never in question. A lot of people are reading this wrong. This was a massive punt, which basically opens up the door for a jury to decide what constitutes an official act.

[-] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Hi! I'm a real big dumb dumb, cause I never, ya know, studied law. But I sure do know that with SCOTUS decisions, the dissenting should be read as well, to get the proper context of the decision that the opinion won't state. Sotomayor sums up the majority decision like this, and she's a damn sight more knowledgeable than I could ever be:

The majority makes three moves that, in effect, completely insulate Presidents from criminal liability. First, the majority creates absolute immunity for the President’s exercise of “core constitutional powers.” Ante, at 6. This holding is unnecessary on the facts of the indictment, and the majority’s attempt to apply it to the facts expands the concept of core powers beyond any recognizable bounds. In any event, it is quickly eclipsed by the second move, which is to create expansive immunity for all “official act[s].” Ante, at 14. Whether described as presumptive or absolute, under the majority’s rule, a President’s use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution. That is just as bad as it sounds, and it is baseless. Finally, the majority declares that evidence con- cerning acts for which the President is immune can play no role in any criminal prosecution against him. See ante, at 30–32. That holding, which will prevent the Government from using a President’s official acts to prove knowledge or intent in prosecuting private offenses, is nonsensical.

You should really read it, it's such an important read.

PS: Sorry for formatting, it's copied verbatim from the dissenting pdf

[-] kaffiene@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah? And who decides what's official? Ultimately, that also will end up with the SC

this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024

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