The Supreme Court’s immunity decision may have surprising consequences and reverberate to things other than the powers of the presidency -- like former President Donald Trump’s criminal cases.
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The court ruled presidents are immune from prosecution for their official acts. It has already prompted the postponement of sentencing for his business fraud case in New York. That was supposed to happen this Thursday but was rescheduled for September at the earliest.
The ruling also has an immediate impact on the federal election case in Washington. It threw a proverbial monkey wrench in the bid to put Trump on trial for what the special counsel calls a criminal conspiracy to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.
What happens in the Georgia case remains to be seen. Judge Scott McAfee hasn’t ruled in that election interference case yet. But the former president has made it clear he shouldn’t be prosecuted in that case either because he was acting as president. So, the question becomes, does the high court’s ruling play a role in Judge McAfee’s decision-making?
Then, of course, there’s the classified documents case here in Florida. Mr. Trump is accused of stashing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Again, Trump claims he has immunity. The U.S. District Judge in that case, Aileen Cannon, may have to consider what impact, limited as it may be, the Supreme Court ruling has on the outcome of her ruling on Trump’s motion.
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If nothing else, there are likely delays and litigation on these issues on the horizon.
Defense attorney and former prosecutor Jeremy Rosenthal joined me on this week’s “Path to the Polls.” You can watch the 7 p.m. Tuesday encore presentation on News4JAX+ or watch any time on demand on News4JAX+, News4JAX.com and our YouTube channel.