A federal judge says he's found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court and could seek officials’ prosecution for violating his orders last month to turn around planes carrying deportees to an El Salvador prison.
  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
    2·
    2 days ago

    Not exactly.

    On July 1, 2024, the Court ruled in a 6–3 decision that presidents have absolute immunity for acts committed as president within their core constitutional purview, at least presumptive immunity for official acts within the outer perimeter of their official responsibility, and no immunity for unofficial acts.

    So if they rule that something isn’t an official act, or outside of the president’s constitutional powers, they can still find it illegal. It means that the courts can effectively “pardon” the president if they rule that he was acting within the scope of his official responsibility, but it doesn’t mean that they gave their ability to prosecute if they choose to.

    Whether the president has the power to “self-pardon,” effectively giving him total immunity to the law, is another angle, but that has not been tested in court.

    Of course, Trump could simply choose to ignore the courts the same way Andrew Jackson did and it’s not clear that anything would happen to him, at least while he’s in office and is commander in chief.