The Supreme Court gives a free pass to Trump and future presidents

IN A stunning finale to its term on Monday morning (Jul 1), the Supreme Court delivered a gift of inestimable worth to Donald Trump and all future presidents who intend to violate the law and their oaths to the Constitution. In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority said that official acts that are central to the presidency are given “absolute immunity” from prosecution. Other acts, even those that reach to the outer edge of a president’s official duties, are “presumptively immune”, the court said, making them much harder to be prosecuted.

The immediate effect of the decision – one of the most consequential ever produced by the court on the subject of presidential powers and constitutional government – was to delay indefinitely the prosecution of Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The vote this fall will now almost certainly move forward with no legal accountability for that act.

But the long-term danger to the Constitution and the American government is even more serious, particularly given the real possibility that Trump, whose recent criminal conviction in New York is only the latest demonstration of his contempt for legal boundaries, could be returned to office in just a few months.