Trump v. United States

Facts

From January 2017 until January 2021, Donald J. Trump served as President of the United States. On August 1, 2023, a federal grand jury indicted him on four counts for conduct that occurred during his Presidency after the November 2020 election. The indictment alleged that after losing that election, Trump conspired to overturn it by spreading knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the collecting, counting, and certifying of the election results. It described five primary means. Trump and his co-conspirators allegedly pressed state officials to change electoral votes, organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven states, tried to use the Justice Department for sham election crime investigations and a letter to the states, pressured the Vice President to alter the results at the January 6 certification proceeding, and exploited the attack on the Capitol to urge further delay. The four counts were conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Trump moved to dismiss, arguing that a President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities. The parties agreed that a former President can be prosecuted for unofficial acts, and that some alleged conduct was unofficial.

Issues

1. Does a former President have immunity from federal criminal prosecution for official acts taken during his tenure in office, and how far does that immunity reach?
2. How should courts distinguish a President's official acts from his unofficial acts, and how do those categories apply to the conduct alleged in this indictment?
3. May evidence about official acts for which a President is immune be used to prove charges against him based on his unofficial conduct?
4. Does the Impeachment Judgment Clause require impeachment and Senate conviction before a former President may be criminally prosecuted?

Holding

A former President is absolutely immune from prosecution for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority, which covers Trump's alleged discussions with Justice Department officials, and is at least presumptively immune for his other official acts, including his alleged pressure on the Vice President. The Court did not decide whether that immunity is absolute or presumptive and remanded the rest of the indictment. It held that a jury may not be invited to examine immune acts to prove liability on any charge.