Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Trump Isn't Going to Like the Supreme Court's Immunity Decision

In particular, there’s a single line in the majority opinion that lets Special Counsel Jack Smith retain plenty of leeway.

July 1, 2024 at 4:00 PM UTC

By Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

The result of an official act?
Photographer: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

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Anyone who expected the US Supreme Court to give clear guidance on the extent to which former President Donald Trump can be tried (and tried and tried) for the crimes of which he has been accused must surely be disappointed with the complexity of what the justices decided in Trump v. United States. The case was sent back to the lower courts for further proceedings.

But clarity shouldn’t have been expected, not least because there are, essentially, no precedents.