Supreme Court keeps Trump election case alive, but rules he has some immunity for official acts

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The Supreme Court on Monday issued its decision on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution on federal election interference charges.

The ruling by the high court, whose six-seat conservative majority includes three members nominated by Trump, carries high stakes for the criminal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Trump is charged in a four-count indictment with illegally conspiring to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

The case in Washington, D.C., federal court has been on pause while Trump argues that he is immune from prosecution for any official acts he performed while he was president. Lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee contend that an ex-president cannot be charged for their official acts in office unless they are impeached and convicted by Congress.

Trump was impeached in the House for inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and temporarily blocked lawmakers from confirming Biden’s electoral victory. He was acquitted in the Senate, where the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote to secure a conviction.

The pause of the election case forced U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to postpone Trump’s trial, which was initially set to start March 4.

Critics fumed when the high court decided to take up the immunity question, rather than let stand an appellate court ruling rejecting Trump’s immunity claims.

The Supreme Court’s intervention guaranteed months of additional delay and threatened to push any trial past the Nov. 5 election.

The election case is often considered the most serious of the four criminal indictments that have been filed against Trump while he seeks another term as president.