Washington D.C.

The United States Supreme Court on Monday (July 1) ruled that former US President Donald Trump is partially immune to federal criminal charges involving his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The court ruled that the ex-US president is immune to official conduct, and not private actions. 

Advertisment

The court held that a former president "is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts."

The decision would allow proceedings to resume in one of the most serious criminal cases against Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential vote, who is charged in federal court with seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 

Also read | Ageing Biden struggles as Trump delivers damaging attacks: Top takeaways from US presidential debate 2024

Advertisment

The US Supreme Court, in process, has thrown out a previous judicial decision which rejected Trump's bid to shield himself from federal criminal charges involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in a major ruling on Monday that is set to have implications for the scope of presidential immunity from prosecution.

What does it mean?

The US Supreme Court's verdict means that Trump is shielded from criminal prosecution for actions taken in his official capacity as president but not for private actions.

Advertisment

The decision would allow proceedings to resume in one of the most serious criminal cases against him which involve his alleged efforts to overturn 2020 presidential election results that handed Joe Biden a victory. 

Also read | 'Breaking point': Trump warns of potential Jan 6 like unrest if he faces jail time

But it could take an uncertain amount of time for the case to come to trial as lower courts will now have to draw the boundaries between Trump's personal and official acts. The latest Supreme Court verdict, has therefore, reduced the likelihood of any verdict in election interference case before the presidential election in November.

(With inputs from agencies)