Decision on Trump’s immunity should hang over Biden debate

A Supreme Court ruling on former President Trump’s claims of immunity from criminal prosecution is hanging over his debate this week with President Biden.

The question of whether Trump is immune from prosecution for certain acts while president could overturn his criminal trials, and more immediately, could derail Thursday’s prime-time showdown on CNN, where his legal troubles are expected to be a focal point. discussion key.

“If there is a decision before then, whoever is in favor of that decision will want to draw attention to it,” said Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at Syracuse University. “I would definitely expect this to be included in the conversation or even for the moderators to ask a question about it.”

There will be two opportunities for the Supreme Court to issue its ruling on immunity immediately before the debate, with the high court scheduled to announce its opinions on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

If the immunity decision does not come on any of these days, it may be released on Friday morning, the third and final day of this week’s opinion.

But a backlog of other high-profile landmark cases in addition to the immunity ruling could delay the opinion early next week if the court fails to meet its self-imposed deadline of issuing its rulings for the term by last Friday. of June. .

At the heart of Trump’s challenge — arising from the federal charges he faces for efforts to subvert the 2020 election — is whether a former commander in chief has criminal immunity for official acts performed while in the White House, while also mounting his 2024 Bid against Biden.

The justices heard arguments in the case in April and signaled they may lean toward ruling that former presidents can be prosecuted for “private conduct,” even though they still enjoy immunity from actions essential to their presidential responsibilities — reaching a halfway point. -term in the question. .

Trump has signaled for months that he is particularly focused on the immunity case, posting repeatedly on Truth Social that a ruling against him would harm a president’s ability to serve as chief executive without fear of prosecution.

Even if the decision does not emerge as a specific point of discussion in Thursday’s debate between Trump and Biden, it will undoubtedly cast a shadow over the event.

Biden, in particular, is expected to raise questions about Trump’s fitness for office and raise concerns about the former president’s numerous legal troubles, most notably his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York.

Trump still faces federal charges in Washington, DC, for his attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election, and in Florida for his handling of confidential documents after leaving office. He also faces state charges in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the 2020 state election results.

“Obviously, Joe Biden will try to twist the allegations in any way he can,” said one Republican strategist. “That’s his game. Talk about character, talk about Trump’s accusations, talk about the 2020 election, talk about January 6th. That’s what Joe Biden wants to do.”

Biden and his campaign have become more aggressive in recent days in taking on Trump over his legal troubles and felony conviction. The campaign leading up to the debate released an ad describing Trump as a “convicted felon,” and Biden referred to his opponent as a convicted felon in fundraisers with supporters.

But if the court rules that Trump is immune from prosecution for certain acts, it could change the Biden campaign’s recent focus on his criminal conviction and give Trump a big victory for a conservative court to which Trump appointed three of his judges.

More broadly, much of Biden’s campaign has focused on drawing contrasts with Trump on issues such as democracy, respect for government institutions and character.

Biden could try to do the same if the immunity ruling goes against Trump. The former president routinely criticizes the legal system when its results are not in his favor.

Biden may also face questions of his own after his son Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony gun charges just two weeks after Trump’s conviction. But Biden stated that he accepts this result and ruled out pardoning his son or commuting the sentence.

“Former President Trump was in a courtroom in New York where he attacked the prosecutor, the prosecution, the judge, the jury, the entire process so many times that before he was finally convicted by a jury made up of his peers for 34 crimes, he was subject to a gag order,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a key Biden ally, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“President Biden, we just saw evidence of this last week, his own son was convicted here in a courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware, and he never attacked, criticized or questioned the judge, the prosecutor, the jury, the process,” Coons added .

Meanwhile, Trump is expected to try to frame his lawsuits as a form of political interference by Democrats trying to prevent him from winning a second term in the White House.

While Trump’s advisers have emphasized that the former president intends to make Thursday’s debate about issues like inflation and immigration so he can attack Biden’s record, the former president illustrated Tuesday on Truth Social how he might complain about the legal system at any time.

“Every time the Radical Left Democrats, Marxists, Communists and Fascists accuse me, I consider it a GREAT BADGE OF HONOR,” Trump posted. “I am being indicted by YOU. Never forget: our enemies want to take away MY freedom because I will never let them take away YOUR freedom! They want to silence ME because I will never let them silence YOU.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story