The US Supreme Court has ruled that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, but have no immunity for unofficial acts.
The landmark decision means the federal election interference case against Donald Trump will return to a lower court which will then decide how to apply this ruling.
The trial in that case was postponed pending a ruling on the immunity claim, and will now likely be delayed further.
Prosecutors in that case allege Trump pressured officials to reverse the 2020 election result and sought to exploit the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 in an effort to stay in power.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor among those opposing the decision. She said she did so with “fear for our democracy” and “the president is now a king above the law.”
