Trump and Immunity: What the Supreme Court Ruling Means

The Supreme Court, voting 6-3 along ideological lines, gave Donald Trump a partial victory in determining that he is immune from criminal charges for some actions taken while he was president.

The issue, the justices said, isn’t as simple as whether Trump enjoyed a legal shield when prosecutors say he illegally tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost. The question, they said, was whether in committing his alleged crimes he was conducting official business as president — in which case he’s immune — or acting as a private citizen — in which case he’s not. The Supreme Court kicked the case back to a lower court to sort that out.