Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 31.0

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

23 

Opinion of the Court 

328 (2010).  During President Franklin Roosevelt’s admin-
istration, the Vice President “became a regular participant
in cabinet deliberations—a practice that was continued by 
each  succeeding  president.”  Ibid.   And  when  President 
Dwight Eisenhower “suffered three major illnesses while in 
office . . . Vice President Richard Nixon consulted with the 
Cabinet and developed a procedure for relaying important 
matters to the President.”  Presidential Succession and Del-
egation in Case of Disability, 5 Op. OLC 91, 102 (1981).  At 
the President’s discretion, “the Vice President may engage
in  activities  ranging  into  the  highest  levels  of  diplomacy
and negotiation and may do so anywhere in the world.”  1 
Supp.  Op.  OLC,  at  220.    Domestically,  he  may  act  as  the
President’s  delegate  to  perform  any  duties  “co-extensive
with the scope of the President’s power of delegation.”  Ibid. 
Whenever the President and Vice President discuss their 
official responsibilities, they engage in official conduct.  Pre-
siding over the January 6 certification proceeding at which
Members of Congress count the electoral votes is a consti-
tutional and statutory duty of the Vice President.  Art. II, 
§1, cl. 3; Amdt. 12; 3 U. S. C. §15.  The indictment’s allega-
tions that Trump attempted to pressure the Vice President 
to take particular acts in connection with his role at the cer-
tification  proceeding  thus  involve  official  conduct,  and
Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution
for such conduct. 

The question then becomes whether that presumption of
immunity is rebutted under the circumstances.  When the 
Vice  President  presides  over  the  January  6  certification 
proceeding,  he  does  so  in  his  capacity  as  President  of  the
Senate.  Ibid.  Despite the Vice President’s expansive role
of advising and assisting the President within the Execu-
tive Branch, the Vice President’s Article I responsibility of 
“presiding  over  the  Senate”  is  “not  an  ‘executive  branch’
function.”  Memorandum from L. Silberman, Deputy Atty.
Gen., to R. Burress, Office of the President, Re: Conflict of