Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 13

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

5 

Opinion of the Court 

Circuit declined to analyze the actions described in the in-
dictment to determine whether they involved official acts. 
See id., at 1205, n. 14. 

We granted certiorari to consider the following question: 
“Whether and if so to what extent does a former President 
enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for 
conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in
office.”  601 U. S. ___ (2024). 

II 
This case is the first criminal prosecution in our Nation’s
history of a former President for actions taken during his
Presidency.  We  are  called  upon  to  consider  whether  and
under  what  circumstances  such  a  prosecution  may  pro-
ceed.  Doing so requires careful assessment of the scope of 
Presidential power under the Constitution.  We undertake 
that responsibility conscious that we must not confuse “the
issue  of  a  power’s  validity  with  the  cause  it  is  invoked  to 
promote,”  but  must  instead  focus  on  the  “enduring  conse-
quences upon the balanced power structure of our Repub-
lic.”  Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U. S. 579, 
634 (1952) (Jackson, J., concurring).

The parties before us do not dispute that a former Presi-
dent  can  be  subject  to  criminal  prosecution  for  unofficial 
acts  committed  while  in  office.  See  Tr.  of  Oral  Arg.  28.
They also agree that some of the conduct described in the 
indictment includes actions taken by Trump in his unoffi-
cial capacity.  See id., at 28–30, 36–37, 124. 

They  disagree,  however,  about  whether  a  former  Presi-
dent can be prosecuted for his official actions.  Trump con-
tends  that  just  as  a  President  is  absolutely  immune  from
civil damages liability for acts within the outer perimeter of 
his official responsibilities, Fitzgerald, 457 U. S., at 756, he 
must be absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for 
such acts.  Brief for Petitioner 10.  And Trump argues that
the bulk of the indictment’s allegations involve conduct in