tequila4kapp said:
movielover said:
Fox News: Trump touts Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling as 'big win for our Constitution and for democracy'
Supreme Court rules Trump immune from criminal prosecution for 'official acts'
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-touts-supreme-courts-presidential-immunity-ruling-big-win-our-constitution-democracy
I am reading the opinion now. Conceptually I'm on board with the legal notion that official acts are covered by immunity. EG, Obama decided to kill an American terrorist without a trial. Official act, no criminality. Fine. But there are some details that are potentially troubling. Back to reading...
The main objection I hear is how difficult this will make the prosecution.
I think it is generally accepted that there should be immunity for official acts of the president. However, the complaint is that having the lower courts have to do their job and determine whether an act is official or not will take time and be hard. Another complaint is that not getting access to information related to official actions will make prosecution of a president hard.
Maybe hard should not be the reason for not doing the right thing. The danger of presidents being prosecuted for political reason when he/she was discharging their official duties is worth the higher level of difficulty.
Due process is hard. Presumption of innocence in criminal cases is hard. Ignoring fruits of a poisonous tree is hard. But it's the right thing to do. Diplomatic immunity is hard.
I think this is hard but this is the right result. Imagine Trump winning and having easy access to prosecute Biden for Afghanistan, etc. Glad we are not just bunch of idiots who cannot see anything long-term.
I still think treatment of classified information after the presidency and federal election interference cases are not official actions, but this protects against a special prosecutor appointed during the next administration having unfettered access to classified information related to official actions and second guessing and using for prosecution actions taken to discharge official duties as the president.