In a significant partial win for former US president Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that presidents have presumed immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office.
The judges returned the case, an appeal of an earlier ruling, to the lower court and instructed that court to determine how the decision should be applied to Trump's case.
This is likely to further delay the start of a possible trial against Trump for attempted election fraud in the US capital Washington in connection with the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by Trump's supporters. It is considered unlikely that the trial will start before the presidential election in November.
The Supreme Court justices ruled 6-3 that former presidents enjoy immunity for actions they take within their constitutional authority, but do not for actions taken in a private capacity.
It is now up to the competent lower court to find out which actions Trump's immunity applies to. This is likely to be a lengthy process.
Before the storming the Capitol, Trump had attempted on various levels to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and reverse his defeat against Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump's lawyers argued that Trump could not be legally prosecuted for actions that were part of his duties as president.
They had already failed with this argument before an appeals court in the US capital. The judge in charge of the case had also previously rejected this argument. Trump's lawyers filed an appeal, which is why the case ended up before the Supreme Court.
