Supreme Court punts on Trump immunity, taking thorny topic off debate table
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Anti-Trump protesters demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, as the court prepares to hear arguments on presidential immunity. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP
The Supreme Court took what could have been a heated topic at Thursday's presidential debate off the table by pushing its decision on former President Trump's legal immunity case for at least 24 hours.
Why it matters: Trump's legal woes are at the center of both candidates' campaigns. For President Biden, it's because he knows some voters might shy away from backing a convicted felon. For Trump, it's because he claims to be the victim of politically motivated prosecutions.
Driving the news: The court is down to its final cases of the term, with the question of presidential immunity looming largest on the outstanding docket.
- Trump's two federal cases — one on his alleged efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 election and the other on his handling of classified documents after his time in the White House — hinge on the court's decision.
- During more than two hours of oral arguments in April, a majority of the justices appeared poised to grant the presumptive GOP nominee at least a partial victory, but they did not seem to be aligned with the "absolute immunity" argument Trump has pushed.
- Several justices seemed to agree that presidents can't be prosecuted for "official acts" — a core topic of the oral arguments that explored whether Trump's efforts to overturn the election were official or unofficial.
- The court will most likely kick the case back to lower courts, Axios' Sam Baker reports.
Context: Biden's re-election campaign and its surrogates have characterized November's election as a choice between democracy and lawlessness, seizing on Trump's conviction.
- A ruling preceding the debate could have propelled Trump's legal cases to the forefront when the two candidates face off for the earliest-ever presidential debate.
- Debate topics will likely center around the economy, immigration, abortion rights and foreign policy.
Between the lines: Biden has openly criticized the Supreme Court for its recent controversial rulings and has capitalized on the court's election-year cases, with his team most recently campaigning on the court's decision to dismiss a closely watched abortion case involving an Idaho law.
- "The stakes could not be higher and the contrast could not be clearer," the president said in a statement following the court's Thursday ruling. "My Administration is committed to defending reproductive freedom and maintains our long-standing position that women have the right to access the emergency medical care they need."
What's next: The nation's highest court has held onto a slew of bombshell case decisions for the end of its term and will hand all of them down in the coming days.
- So far, the Supreme Court has dropped opinions in major cases related to guns, abortion access and social media.
