Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 24

16 

TRUMP v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of the Court 

III 
Determining  whether  a  former  President  is  entitled  to 
immunity from a particular prosecution requires applying
the principles we have laid out to his conduct at issue.  The 
first step is to distinguish his official from unofficial actions.
In this case, however, no court has thus far considered how 
to draw that distinction, in general or with respect to the
conduct alleged in particular. 

Despite  the  unprecedented  nature  of  this  case,  and  the 
very significant constitutional questions that it raises, the
lower courts rendered their decisions on a highly expedited 
basis.  Because those courts categorically rejected any form 
of Presidential immunity, they did not analyze the conduct 
alleged in the indictment to decide which of it should be cat-
egorized as official and which unofficial.  Neither party has
briefed that issue before us (though they discussed it at oral 
argument in response to questions).  And like the underly-
ing immunity question, that categorization raises multiple
unprecedented and momentous questions about the powers
of the President and the limits of his authority under the 
Constitution.  As  we  have  noted,  there  is  little  pertinent 
precedent  on  those  subjects  to  guide  our  review  of  this 
case—a case that we too are deciding on an expedited basis,
less  than  five  months  after  we  granted  the  Government’s
request  to  construe  Trump’s  emergency  application  for  a
stay as a petition for certiorari, grant that petition, and an-
swer the consequential immunity question.  See 601 U. S., 
at ___.  Given all these circumstances, it is particularly in-
cumbent upon us to be mindful of our frequent admonition
that  “[o]urs  is  a  court  of  final  review  and  not  first  view.” 
Zivotofsky  v.  Clinton,  566  U. S.  189,  201  (2012)  (internal
quotation marks omitted).

Critical threshold issues in this case are how to differen-
tiate  between  a  President’s  official  and  unofficial  actions, 
and how to do so with respect to the indictment’s extensive
and detailed allegations covering a broad range of conduct.