A clean bill of health from the Supreme Court Trump wants conviction in hush money case overturned

The highest US court has ruled in Donald Trump's favor. A short time later, the ex-president wants to capitalize on this - and win another legal victory.

Former US President Donald Trump also wants to take advantage of the Supreme Court's decision on his immunity from prosecution for official acts in the trial over hush money payments to a porn actress. Judge Juan Merchan should overturn the guilty verdict and postpone the sentencing scheduled for next week, Trump's lawyers demanded in a letter on Monday. Merchan should also examine the consequences of the Supreme Court's decision on the hush money trial.

The lawyers are also said to have asked the judge to postpone the sentencing hearing scheduled for July 11. Trump's team is referring to the recent decision by the US Supreme Court, according to which US presidents enjoy extensive protection from prosecution for official acts in office - a "dangerous precedent", as US President Joe Biden warned after the judge's ruling.

The move by Trump's lawyers was to be expected and is likely to be futile, but could at least delay the announcement of the sentence due to the subsequent legal steps.

Trump wants to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling

Trump scored a significant success before the highest US court on Monday: The Supreme Court ruled that while he does not enjoy complete immunity for actions during his time as president, the protection from prosecution is very broad.

With their decision, the judges have further delayed the start of the election fraud trial against the 78-year-old in the US capital Washington. A lower court must now find out what actions Trump's immunity applies to. It is considered highly unlikely that the trial in Washington will begin before the presidential election in November.

Trump was convicted in another criminal case in New York a few weeks ago. In the trial concerning the concealment of hush money payments to a porn actress, the jury found him guilty on all 34 counts. It was the first time in the history of the United States that a former president was convicted of a criminal offense. At worst, Trump could face several years in prison.

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Legal disputes are likely to continue for a long time to come

The New York case is different from the election fraud case in Washington, for example, which concerns Trump's attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Back then, Trump lost to Democrat Biden but refused to accept his defeat. This indictment concerns his time in office as president.

The proceedings in New York primarily revolved around Trump's actions as a presidential candidate before the 2016 election. Trump had already failed in the past with the argument that the case concerned his presidency.

However, Trump's lawyers could argue that the prosecution in the case also relied on evidence from Trump's time in the White House. This is because the Supreme Court has now ruled that official acts by US presidents are not only protected from criminal prosecution. They may also not be cited as evidence in criminal proceedings. This is likely to become an issue in appeal proceedings at the latest. Trump had already announced that he would take action against the verdict after the sentence was handed down.

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Biden on immunity ruling: "Dangerous precedent"

US President Biden criticized the Supreme Court's immunity ruling and warned of serious consequences. "Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits to what a president can do," the Democrat said in a speech at the White House that was scheduled at short notice. Any president, including Trump, will now have the freedom to ignore the law, the 81-year-old warned. He wants to run against Trump in the presidential election in November.

With its decision, the Supreme Court had created a "fundamentally new principle": The power of the office of president will no longer be limited by laws in future, not even by the Supreme Court, Biden warned. "The only limits will be set by the president himself." The people of the USA have a right to receive an answer from the courts on Trump's role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, before the upcoming presidential elections in November. However, this answer will probably not be forthcoming after the ruling.

Biden, who is in a critical phase of his election campaign after a disastrous performance in last week's TV debate, took the opportunity to call on people to vote. He did not answer questions about his candidacy.

Liberal judges express fundamental concerns

The Supreme Court's ruling was by six votes to three. The three judges, who are considered liberal, had not joined the right-wing conservative majority of the Supreme Court, which Trump had cemented through personnel decisions during his time as president. In the dissenting opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the judges expressed their "fear for our democracy".

Sotomayor outlined conceivable situations in which the president's protection from prosecution could be applied in the future - as an example, she cited an assassination attempt on a rival commissioned by him, a military coup by the ousted president or evidence of bribery.

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"Even if these nightmare scenarios never materialize, and I pray they never do, the damage is already done," Sotomayor wrote. "In every exercise of his official powers, the president is now a king who is above the law." The long-term consequences of the decision are significant. The court is thus "effectively creating a law-free zone around the president and shaking up the status quo that has existed since the nation's founding".

SDA