US supreme court ruling gives boost to Trump

The US supreme court has ruled that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution, a major victory for Donald Trump that severely weakens the 2020 election subversion case against him and any prospect of a trial before November.

- Hugo Lowell

The court's conservative majority - which Trump helped create -voted 6-3 that presidents were protected from prosecution for official actions that extended to the "outer perimeter" of his office, but could face charges for unofficial conduct.

Trump is accused of overseeing an effort to subvert the 2020 election, including two counts of conspiring to obstruct the certification of the election results, conspiring to defraud the government and conspiring to disenfranchise voters.

The accusations include that Trump spread false claims of election fraud, plotted to recruit fake slates of electors, put pressure on US justice department officials to open sham investigations into election fraud and tried to persuade his vice-president, Mike Pence, to obstruct Congress's certification of Joe Biden's win.

To determine whether Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results were official acts, the supreme court remanded the case back to the presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan, who will have to review the indictment line by line.

The review will be done under a three-part test whether particular conduct is a core presidential function that carries absolute immunity, an official act within the outer perimeter of the presidency that carries presumptive immunity, or an unofficial act that carries no immunity.