U.S. Supreme Court rules that Trump has immunity from prosecution for official acts as president but not for unofficial acts....Sends case back to the trial court as the presidential election nears.... By Clevelandurbannews.com

01 July 2024

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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled 6-3 that former President Donald Trump (pictured) and all other presidents similarly situated have immunity from prosecution for official acts undertaken as president, a historic decision by all accounts.

The case now heads back to the trial court for a determination on what acts by Trump were, in fact, official and not official, opening the door for further appeals and solidifying the prediction by pundits that the former president will certainly not face trial in the case at issue before the November presidential election, a case that centers around his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C .

The ruling impacts whether Trump will face a federal trial on four felony counts brought by special counsel Jack Smith, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruction of an official proceeding, for his alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

The court, however, made it clear via its ruling that private and unofficial acts by Trump or any other president or former president are open to criminal prosecution and potential liability for illegal activity.

"The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. "The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive."

The nation's highest court heard  oral arguments in the case in April and a ruling, initially expected in June, came down today with all three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Katanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting, Brown Jackson a Biden appointee and the first and only Black woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that "shielding Trump from prosecution for his White House actions sets a precedent that U.S. commanders-in-chief can abuse their powers without facing punishment."

Trump had claimed in the unprecedented legal case that he is immune from all criminal charges for acts that he said fell within his duties as president, including that he incited the Jan 6, 2021 riot at the nation's Capitol Building.

A U.S. District Court out of Washington, D.C. rejected Mr Trump's immunity arguments earlier this year and he appealed, and after losing, he  appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court that has three Trump appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney-Barrett. All three were among the conservative majority relative to Monday's celebrated decision.The Supreme Court taking the case was, in itself, a victory for the former president as it increased the chances that his trial would likely not happen before November's presidential election, a 2020 rematch between Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.

The former president was elated with Monday's decision and said on his Truth Social site as he did prior to the ruling that without immunity presidents would  be "paralyzed by the prospect of wrongful prosecution and retaliation after they leave office."

Trump, 78,  was indicted last year on numerous counts, including witness tampering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. over his alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. The trial was originally scheduled for March.

Prosecutor Jack Smith, who was appointed as special counsel in the investigation, wanted the trial to be held this year. He initially asked the Supreme Court to take up the immunity question to no avail and this left the federal court to address the matter. It rejected Trump's immunity claim, which was upheld on appeal, and it is from that ruling that Mr. Trump successfully sought the ultimate review by the Supreme Court.

"We cannot accept former President Trump's claim that a president has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power - the recognition and implementation of election results," the appeals court wrote in upholding the trial court ruling, a decision that prompted Monday's Supreme Court decision that he is immune from prosecution for official acts as president in what Trump's supporters are calling a win for the former president.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

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Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio-Brittany Watts (pictured),  a young, Black woman from Warren, Ohio who miscarried at some 22 weeks of pregnancy at her home and was arrested and charged in January by the city with felony corpse abuse but subsequently escaped an indictment by a Trumbull County grand jury and prosecution will highlight Cleveland's 2nd Anniversary of Roe Reversal reproductive and women's  rights rally. It is Mon, June 24, 2024 at 5:30 pm on City Hall steps in downtown Cleveland.

Watts will join grassroots activists slated to speak at the rally as well as elected officials and others, including Ohio Sen and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Meredith Turner, state Rep Juanita Brent , County Democratic Party Chairman David Brock, and Dr. Lauren Beene of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights. Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell and his Footprints band will perform as a community service, organizers said.

Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide, was overturned on June 24, 2022, a 5-4 decision dubbed Dobbs vs Mississippi Health Organization that  gave states the authority to legislate abortion and forced some states like Ohio to pass statewide ballot initiatives to enshrine the legal right to abortion in the state constitution. Ohio voters passed ballot Issue 1 in November of 2023 but advocacy groups continue to fight for abortion access like Women's March Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, the organizing groups for Monday's rally in Cleveland that will also include predominantly Black area activists groups.

"We are pleased to have a strong and brave woman like Brittany Watts who has risen above the unjust adversity she faced as a Black woman to stand with us as we continue our fight for reproductive rights for Ohio women," said Cindy Demsey, who leads the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus and has helped progressive women in the county and state get elected to office for decades.

Cleveland's upcoming rally is part of a National Day of Action on June 24 promoted by Women's March National out of Washington., D.C.

Warren is a small city some 59 miles southeast of Cleveland that is roughly 28 percent Black.

Watts, 34, became nationally known following the miscarriage incident where police said she should have delivered the remains from her miscarriage to them rather than discarding them in her home bathroom. She was the guest of 11th Congregational District Congresswoman Shontel Brown, a Warrensville Hts Democrat, and her mother the guest of Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat, at President Biden's State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. earlier this year.

The Trumbull County grand jury issued a no bill relative to Watts' case, which meant no indictment and dismissal of the third-degree felony criminal charge, a case that drew national attention and angered women's rights groups in Ohio like Women's March Cleveland, the largest grassroots women's rights activist group in Northeast, Ohio.

Women's March Cleveland had called for the felony charge to be immediately dismissed before the case went to the grand jury, saying the charge at issue was racist and that Watts was being targeted by police and prosecutors because she is Black, and for political reasons.

"This case has racial implications for sure and we are pleased that the grand jury saw through the racism as we continue to be concerned about reproductive rights, and racist and malicious prosecutions of Black pregnant and other women in Ohio," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman after the grand jury declined to indict Watts, Coleman a longtime Black Cleveland activist, digital journalist and community organizer.

The so-called facts of the case are murky at best, Coleman said.

Watts went to the emergency room some three times before she miscarried but was released in spite of pregnancy complications determined by doctors, who said the fetus could not survive outside of the womb.

Research reveals that Black women and girls who miscarry in Ohio and elsewhere who discard a fetus are prosecuted at a higher rate than similarly situated White women and girls.

Coleman added that "instead of singling out pregnant Black women in Ohio like Brittany Watts who miscarry due to no fought of their own for malicious and selective  prosecutions authorities should address disparities relative to Black women who face disproportionate complications during pregnancy, including higher miscarriage rates, and even death."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women are three times more likely to die during pregnancy than White women.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.