The United States Supreme Court is divided on whether or not former US President Donald Trump will get immunity from charges of trying to change the results of the election.
The country’s highest court judges reviewed the matter for about three hours on Thursday (April 25) local time.
Some allegations have been made against the then US President Trump for trying to change the results of the US presidential election in 2020. Whether or not Trump will be prosecuted depends on the decision of the Supreme Court judges.
But regardless of the decision on the matter, every judge of the Supreme Court has indicated that the decision coming from the Supreme Court on whether to prosecute Donald Trump or not will determine the form of democracy in the United States in the coming days.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said, ‘We are writing judgments for an era.’
A special hearing on the case was held Thursday, a day after Trump argued that he deserves immunity from any criminal charges for actions taken while president.
According to Trump, the immunity will protect him from charges brought by US special counsel Jack Smith for trying to change the outcome of the election.
The trial against Trump will be suspended pending a decision from the Supreme Court on the issue of impunity. The decision of the Supreme Court is expected to come by next June.
The questions raised by the judges during the hearing indicated that they were divided on the issue. For this reason, it is expected that a split decision may come from the Supreme Court. A split decision by the Supreme Court justices could further delay Trump’s trial on criminal charges.
There are nine justices on the United States Supreme Court. Among them, conservatives are the majority and judges known as liberals are the minority. The questions asked at the hearing indicated that judges on both sides wanted to make decisions with an eye on history.
Two questions become important here. First, if absolute impunity is granted, will future US presidents be able to use the military to assassinate their opponents? Second, if there is no such immunity, will the Presidents face the threat of prosecution or imprisonment due to political vengeance at the end of the term?
