The conservative majority’s opinion in Trump v. United States granted presidents, even after they leave office, absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. The court, however, largely left it to the judge in the federal case against Mr. Trump to determine whether his actions to overturn the 2020 election fall into the “official” or “unofficial” category.
The 6-3 decision — the three liberal justices strongly dissented — was seen by some as so vague that it could give all presidents carte blanche. In this episode of History As It Happens, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz says the Supreme Court’s decision, which effectively will delay Mr. Trump’s trial until after the election, was one of the worst in U.S. history, a view he explained in an essay for the New York Review of Books. American presidents now enjoy legal privileges unavailable to anyone else.
“The Roberts Court has been the most politicized, the most intellectually and legally bankrupt, and perhaps even the most corrupt court that we’ve ever seen in American history. You really have to go back to Dred Scott [in 1857] to find a decision that was so politically arrived at,” said Mr. Wilentz, who calls then Chief Justice Roger Taney the “original originalist.”
History As It Happens is available at washingtontimes.com or wherever you find your podcasts.
