Supreme Court rules Trump has broad immunity

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president in a landmark decision recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.

The justices, in a 6-3 ruling authored 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.

In recognizing broad immunity for Trump, Roberts cited the need for a president to "execute the duties of his office fearlessly and fairly "without the threat of prosecution.

"As for a president's unofficial acts," Roberts added, "There is no immunity."

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

Trump celebrated a "big win" on X. Biden called the ruling "a dangerous precedent" because the power of the presidency will no longer be constrained by the law.

"This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America ... no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States," said Biden.

Biden was making his first set of remarks at the White House since his shaky debate against Trump last week led to calls for him to step aside as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer for the election.

He has been sharply critical of Trump's actions related to the Jan 6,2021, raid on the US Capitol by Trump's supporters, who believed Trump's false claims that he had won the 2020 election.

Also on Monday, longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon was taken into custody after surrendering at a federal prison to begin a four-month sentence on contempt charges for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the Capitol attack.

A judge had allowed Bannon to stay free for nearly two years while he appealed but ordered him to report to prison on Monday after an appeals court panel upheld his contempt of Congress convictions.

Agencies - Xinhua