The Supreme Court granted Trump broad immunity. What now?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
Today, the Supreme Court announced a ruling that could change the limits on presidential power.
In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that the president is immune from prosecution of any criminal acts committed in an official capacity during his tenure. The ruling, however, sends the case back to the lower court to determine what counts as an official act and what doesn’t.
Martine Powers speaks with reporter Devlin Barrett about the complexities of presidential immunity, what this means for former president Donald Trump and his indictment on charges of election interference, and the potential impact for future presidents.
Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan, with help from Laura Benshoff, Trinity Webster-Bass and Ali Bianco. It was edited by Reena Flores, with help from Lucy Perkins, and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Debbi Wilgoren.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today, the Supreme Court ruled on an issue that could redefine the limits of what a president can do. |
| 0:08.0 | They tackled the question of whether a former president is immune from criminal prosecution. |
| 0:16.0 | The decision released by the court today was initially confusing to some of the people gathered outside the court. |
| 0:22.0 | So what was your reaction? |
| 0:24.0 | Okay, at first it was confusion. |
| 0:27.0 | I didn't understand that they were, the Supreme Court was referring to |
| 0:32.0 | unofficial acts. |
| 0:34.8 | That's Celeste McCall. |
| 0:36.2 | She was outside the court on Monday |
| 0:37.9 | and she spoke with our producers. |
| 0:39.7 | So I thought, oh, yay. |
| 0:41.6 | But then it was explained that it's just unofficial acts and not |
| 0:45.0 | official acts. Well I was first trying to figure out what it was because because it |
| 0:52.0 | wasn't clear but that's Michael Allen who was also standing outside the court |
| 0:55.8 | But when you read just a few sentences it becomes clear that it seems to |
| 1:05.0 | this is not a an absolutely clear mandate for anything that it seems to open |
| 1:10.0 | the reason this case is getting so much attention is because it's directly relevant to former President Donald Trump. |
| 1:18.0 | This ruling might be the determining factor in whether he faces another criminal trial before the election. |
| 1:24.6 | So here's what the court ruled in their 6-3 decision. |
| 1:28.2 | Whether or not a former president can be prosecuted for crimes depends on whether they were acting in an official capacity. |
| 1:35.0 | The Supreme Court says that presidents have absolute immunity for official acts, |
| 1:41.0 | but presidents do not have immunity for unofficial acts. |
... |
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