Not So Simple,

By Hugh Macgarvie Thompson

09/06/2024

Former president Donald Trump is at the forefront of American politics and one of the questions surrounding him and his campaign is his immunity. The supreme court granted the former president a large amount of immunity on election subversion charges and any “core” constitutional powers, anything that is part of his presidential duties. What constitutes his duties as president is unclear but what is front and center in a lot of people's minds is whether or not he can be prosecuted if he loses the election to Kamala Harris. If the former president does indeed lose the election, then many of his criminal cases will continue unimpeded. It is important to note that Trump will still have immunity because he was given immunity for actions made during his presidency. This means that it does not matter whether or not he is currently president, only if he was president at the time when he committed the actions he is being prosecuted for. However, despite his immunity he still is not off the hook, there is still quite a bit of debate surrounding what counts as his presidential duties. Trump does does not have total exoneration despite what his statements on truth social such as; “It is clear that the Supreme Court’s Brilliantly Written and Historic Decision ENDS all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the WHITE HOUSE AND DOJ INSPIRED CIVIL HOAXES in New York”. The New York case in particular will not be affected by his immunity as the hush money payments were not made while Trump was president. The other question a lot of people are asking is what will happen if the former president becomes the president again. The short answer for this question is that being president will likely put an end to the majority of Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Donald Trump will likely appoint people to the department of justice who can have the charges in the federal election case dropped and can make sure the prosecutor’s appeal in the federal documents case doesn’t succeed. However, the New York hush money case is a different story, because the case takes place on the state level and not the federal level. Trump could replace the entire department of justice with Trump supporters and he still could not legally have the charges dropped. At the same time if he is convicted in New York he still probably won’t face punishment, at least not while he’s still in office, simply because it would be hard to impose jail time or travel restrictions on the president of the United States. The future of Trump’s freedom is not black and white nor win or lose, it instead will be a complex move of legal arguments and court rulings.

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Picture Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/07/politics/supreme-court-trump-what-matters/index.html