Edition · July 1, 2024

Trump’s immunity win came with a giant asterisk, and the wreckage was immediate

The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a major legal boost on July 1, 2024 — but it also sent his January 6 case back to square one, delaying accountability and opening a fresh fight over what counts as an official presidential act.

Trump got the headline he wanted, but not the clean exoneration his allies tried to sell. The Court’s immunity ruling protected some official acts while leaving the door open to prosecution for unofficial conduct, which means the criminal case over his 2020 election plot did not go away. The practical result was delay, more expensive litigation, and another example of Trump turning a court win into a mess of his own making.

Closing take

For Trump, the day was a win in the narrowest sense and a headache in the larger one: a legal shield that also stalled the case rather than ending it. That is very on-brand. The Court bought him time, but it did not buy him innocence.

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Trump’s immunity ruling leaves his election case in court

★★★★☆Fuckup rating 4/5 Serious fuckup

The Supreme Court held that former presidents have absolute immunity for acts within exclusive constitutional authority, presumptive immunity for other official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts. It remanded Trump’s election-interference case for the district court to separate official from unofficial conduct and decide what can still move forward.

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