U.S. Supreme Court says Trump has immunity for official, not private acts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Supreme Court found on Monday that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can for private acts, in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.

The justices, in a 6-3 ruling written by Chief Justice John Roberts, threw out a lower court's decision that had rejected Trump's claim of immunity from federal criminal charges involving his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The six conservative justices were in the majority. Its three liberals dissented.

Trump is the Republican candidate challenging President Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 U.S. election in a 2020 rematch. The Supreme Court's slow handling of the case, coupled with its decision to return key questions about the scope of Trump's immunity to the lower courts to resolve, make it improbable he will be tried on the election subversion charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith before the election.

"We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office," Roberts wrote.

Immunity for former presidents is "absolute" with respect to their "core constitutional powers," Roberts wrote, and a former president has "at least a presumptive immunity" for "acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility," meaning that prosecutors face a high legal bar to overcome that presumption.

Roberts cited the need for a president to "execute the duties of his office fearlessly and fairly" without the threat of prosecution.

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