The Supreme Court decision granting former presidents broad protection from prosecution kicked to the trial court key rulings about how much of Donald Trump’s indictment on election charges can stand.
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The Supreme Court has suggested that former President Donald J. Trump might not be able to face prosecution for the things he said during his speech to a crowd of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
At some point soon, the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity will land back with the judge who is handling the case from which it sprang — the criminal prosecution of Donald J. Trump on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
And when that happens, the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, will face a daunting task.
Judge Chutkan will have to sort through the 45-page indictment, making decisions about which of its many allegations can move forward and which will have to be tossed out.
The Supreme Court has held that former presidents are completely protected against accusations arising from their core constitutional duties, but that they can face prosecution for unofficial acts they took while in the White House.
The court also created a third, more complicated category, which will most likely be the focus of Judge Chutkan’s work. The court said that Mr. Trump is presumptively immune from prosecution for all official acts, but that prosecutors can overcome that presumption if they can show that filing charges related to official acts would not result in any intrusions on “the authority and functions of the executive branch.”
It remains unclear when Judge Chutkan will begin considering how much of the indictment can survive, but the Supreme Court gave her some guidance — albeit very muddled — for how to approach the questions its ruling created.
The indictment filed against Mr. Trump in Washington by the special counsel, Jack Smith, accused the former president of using five chief methods to subvert the last election.
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Source: nytimes.com
