This Supreme Court Trump immunity ruling is being massively misinterpreted already

| 2:20 pm EDT July 1, 2024
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I cynically predicted awhile back that no matter what ruling the Supreme Court issued in Donald Trump’s immunity appeal, the media would trip over itself to spin it in hyperbolic doomsday “end of the world” fashion. Sure enough, that’s pretty much what’s happening today. So allow me to try to shoot down some of the silliest misinterpretations the media has been dishing out today.

For starters, this was very much a mixed ruling. The Supreme Court ruled that Presidents cannot be criminally charged for official actions, but can be criminally charged for unofficial actions. This now opens the door for Jack Smith to swiftly file a revised version of his January 6th criminal charges against Trump, limited solely to what he considers unofficial acts. Judge Tanya Chutkan will then have to rule on what parts of Smith’s revised charges she feels still apply. If Smith and Chutkan define things narrowly enough, there will be nothing for Trump to try to appeal back to the Supreme Court, and he’ll go on trial.

In spite of this easily understood reality, the media is largely trying to paint this ruling as having handed “total immunity” to the presidency. But this is obviously false on multiple levels. First, again, it only applies to official acts, not unofficial acts. Second, and this is crucial, it merely shields a President from being criminally prosecuted for official acts. It does not shield the President’s official acts from being overruled by the court system.

So no, President Biden can’t just make some magic wand announcement tomorrow that convicted felons can’t run for President, or that people named “Donald” have to be deported. I mean, Biden could do that, but the courts would immediately overturn it. So the President’s power is still as limited as ever. Today’s ruling solely applies to a President being prosecuted for official acts, not to a president being overruled for official acts.

In other words, Jack Smith’s criminal case against Donald Trump is still partially on. This was not the verdict that Trump was demanding. Not at all. Nor does it mean that Biden can just magic wand Trump out of existence either. Today was a much narrower ruling than it’s being made out to be. But we knew going in that no matter what the ruling, the media would massively overplay it. And here we are. So let’s go win this election. Donate to Palmer Report