SCOTUS Ruling on Trump Immunity • News & Events • Penn Carey Law

Supreme Court of the United States

Prof. Claire O. Finkelstein and Prof. Cary Coglianese offer their insights on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States.

In Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court has held that a former President is entitled “to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

On X, Claire O. Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy, commented:

Claire O. Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law & Professor of Philosophy Claire O. Finkelstein, Algernon Biddle Professor of Law & Professor of PhilosophySCOTUS’ #immunity decision will in time rank as among the Court’s worst decisions in its many year history — along with Dred Scott, Korematsu, and Lochner. Any U.S. president can now violate the law to remain in power as long as he cloaks it in the trappings of his office.

Finkelstein’s current research addresses national security law and policy, democratic governance, and professional ethics. She is the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). She is a distinguished research fellow at APPC and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI).

Prof. Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, said:

Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law & Professor of Political Science Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law & Professor of Political ScienceThe Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States marks a tragic departure from the prevailing principle of a “government of laws, not of men” that has long formed the foundation of governing power in the United States. The justices in the majority have gone beyond what was needed to resolve the precise matter before them to create a murky structure that will only complicate what has until now been the clear principle that “no person is above the law.”

Although most immediately the Court’s decision will mean more judicial hearings and more appeals in any continued prosecution of Donald Trump, over the longer term the Court’s decision plants the seeds for future presidents to feel more emboldened to disregard the law and deploy their weighty power in ways that violate the highest principles of integrity that those occupying the White House should be expected to uphold.

Coglianese, Director of the Penn Program on Regulation (PPR), is a globally renowned expert on regulatory law, analysis, and management who has produced extensive action-oriented research and scholarship. He has consulted with regulatory organizations around the world and is a founding editor of the peer-reviewed journal Regulation & Governance. A complete list of his scholarship across more than a dozen major areas of regulatory law can be found online at his website, www.CaryCoglianese.net.