(NewsNation) —The Supreme Court ruled Monday presidents have immunity from official acts while in office but not as private citizens, leaving the question of whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted to a lower court, which now has to parse out where his actions fell on Jan. 6, 2021, and other cases.
The federal election interference case against Trump has been sent back to the trial court with instructions for Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine which actions in the indictment constitute official conduct and should be dropped from the case.
In the high court’s ruling, the justices in the majority said “a former president is entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his ‘conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority.”
“There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
What does this mean for Jack Smith and the Jan. 6 rioters?
The ruling means that special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case against Trump and prevailed in an appellate court, will likely have to refigure his arguments under the Supreme Court ruling.
Smith will need to present his arguments to prove all of Trump’s actions fell under what the Supreme Court ruled as fair game.
A spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling.
“He (Jack Smith) will try to move with alacrity and still try to move forward with the Jan. 6 case. I think it’s tremendously uphill for him,” John Fishwick, a former U.S. attorney, told NewsNation. “What is absolute immunity, he can’t be charged with and what is an ‘unofficial act’ that he can be charged with? And then there’s in-between acts that he might be charged with but most likely will not.”
Did justices define ‘official acts‘?
In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared to run through the process by which the legal system could decide whether a president has immunity.
“From the structure of the paradigm, it appears that the first decision point is whether the alleged criminal conduct involves one of the President’s ‘core’ powers,” Jackson wrote.
“If the crime is an official act, the President is presumptively immune from criminal prosecution and punishment,” Jackson added. “But even then, immunity still hinges on whether there is any legal or factual basis for concluding that the presumption of immunity has been rebutted. Alternatively, if the charged conduct is an unofficial act (a determination that, incidentally, courts must make without considering the President’s motivations), the President is not immune.”
But Smith’s argument may fall flat in the lower courts, according to Chief Justice John Roberts, who appeared to hint that Trump’s actions fall very close to being official.
“Most of a president’s public communications are likely to fall comfortably within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities,” he wrote. “And the President’s broad power to speak on matters of public concern does not exclude his public communications regarding the fairness and integrity of federal elections simply because he is running for re-election.”
However, Roberts did clarify that if the speech were purely as a candidate for office or party leader, “objective analysis of ‘content, form, and context’ will necessarily inform the inquiry.”
Will the Jan. 6 trial take place before the presidential election?
Based on legal timelines, the process will take months, likely meaning a trial won’t happen before the November presidential election, where Trump is the presumed Republican nominee.
“No way there’s a trial over Jan. 6 in 2024,” Fishwick said.
The ruling muddied the case, as it’s arguable whether Trump, who was president on Jan. 6, 2021, undertook actions in his official capacity.
“The Trump case has put an incredible stress test on our country’s legal system,” Fishwick said. “How has our legal system held up through this? I don’t know. That’s for everybody to judge. I don’t think it’s a shining moment for us but nonetheless, it’s been mostly transparent.”
If Trump wins the election in November, he would be immune from being prosecuted under a Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
As president, he could also order the Justice Department to drop the case against him.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to celebrate the ruling, deeming it a “win.”
“Big win for our Constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American!” Trump wrote in all caps.
The sentiment was echoed by legal experts.
“This is really a big win not just for Donald Trump, but really for all future presidents as well,” Andrew Stoltmann, a professor at Northwestern University College of Law, told NewsNation.