The U.S. Supreme Court is giving Judge Tanya Chutkan a "test" following its ruling on former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity case, CNN legal analyst Paula Reid said on Monday.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled on Monday that former presidents have absolute immunity for official acts, but no immunity at all for private acts. The Court sent the case, which was led by Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith and focused on Trump's alleged role surrounding the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results that saw President Joe Biden as the winner, back to a lower court in Washington, D.C., to figure out how to determine what constitutes an official act.
It's possible Trump, who maintains his innocence, will still face a trial for some charges in the case that are not deemed official, but conservatives are viewing the ruling as a victory as it makes it less likely the case will go to trial before the November election.
"They're giving her a test that she can now apply to all of the actions alleged in the indictment," Reid said during a CNN appearance about Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal election interference case. "And then once she decides, alright, what are unofficial and official acts, that's gonna take some time. It's clear here, there's gonna be a lot of litigation over the next few weeks and months."
The Supreme Court's decision on Monday overturns the February appeals court ruling that rejected Trump's presidential immunity claims. The three-judge panel for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. found that immunity does not apply to Trump because he is no longer president. Chutkan had also denied Trump's request earlier this year.
Newsweek has reached out to the DOJ via its website for comment.
The former president responded to the ruling in a post to Truth Social and wrote: "BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"
In the majority opinion on the case, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts."
Roberts was joined by the other conservatives justices, while Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the opinion.
In a dissenting opinion, Sotomayor wrote that she dissents "with fear for our democracy," warning about the ruling's implications.
"Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop," she added.
During her appearance on CNN, Reid said on Monday that the ruling by the Supreme Court will make it unlikely for Trump's case to begin before November as he remains the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
"The fact that the Supreme Court has opened the door, though, for further proceedings for further litigation, makes it unlikely that this will go before November," she said, before bringing up Trump's classified documents case.
"And the reason that is significant is because if Trump is reelected, he can make this case and the classified documents case go away. So when it comes to the immediate future, the reason they're framing this as a major victory is because they're going to be able to litigate this for several months and possibly push this off until after November. Then all you have to do is get elected and the case goes away."
Trump was indicted in June 2023 by Smith over his alleged mishandling of classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in the case and said it is politically motivated.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
