The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump got a major Supreme Court ruling on July 1, 2024, but he did not get a dismissal. The court held that a former president has absolute immunity for acts within exclusive constitutional authority, presumptive immunity for other official acts, and no immunity for unofficial conduct. It sent the election-interference case back to the district court for the first-pass job of sorting official from unofficial allegations and deciding whether any remaining charges can proceed without immune conduct or evidence.

That distinction matters. The court did not say everything a president does while in office is protected. It said courts must first identify which conduct is official, and then decide how the immunity rules apply. The opinion also said judges may not probe a president’s motives when making that call, which means the remand is not a quick cleanup but a fresh constitutional review of the indictment.

The practical effect is a reset, not an end. The prosecution was not thrown out, but it was pushed back into lower court hands under a narrower and more complicated framework. Parts of the case tied to contacts with the Justice Department, the vice president, state officials, private allies, and public statements now have to be reexamined through the immunity standard. Some allegations may fall away. Others may survive.

For Trump, that is still a win. For prosecutors, it is still a case. And for the courts, the next round is about drawing the line between presidential power and personal political conduct, one allegation at a time.