Robert Delaney

On Balance | US Supreme Court’s immunity ruling will unleash an even worse Trump

With the court essentially finding that the US president is above the law in certain cases, expect a re-elected Trump to be even more emboldened

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Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a rally in Las Vegas. A US Supreme Court ruling that presidents have immunity for actions taken in an official capacity has dealt a blow to hopes of holding Trump accountable for his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. Photo: Getty Images

Robert Delaney

Published: 8:30pm, 8 Jul 2024

One line that Democrats and Republicans often fling at each other over the various legal cases and litigation threats against US President Joe Biden, former president Donald Trump and some of their children and associates must now change.

“No one is above the law” has been a standard rhetorical device since the establishment of the republic that broke away from Britain nearly 250 years ago, a commonplace principle that neither side could argue with.

Seen through the lens of geopolitical competition, it was a crisp line that helped to maintain the legitimacy of the American system, even when politics here was at its most chaotic. It is one of the fundamental reasons the country attracts many of the world’s best and brightest and a factor behind the US dollar’s strength.

Now, according to the US Supreme Court, we need to add a few more words: no one but the president of the United States is above the law. That qualification changes everything.

Whether or not the court’s conservatives intended to clear the way for the exoneration of Trump for everything he did to overturn the 2020 election, that is exactly how their ruling on the question of Trump’s immunity will play out.

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