Presidential Immunity From the Founding to Today

On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its 6-3 ruling in the landmark case Trump v. United States, finding that the president is entitled to presumptive immunity from prosecution for all official acts, but not for unofficial acts. In this episode, Sai Prakash of the University of Virginia Law School and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School join Jeffrey Rosen to delve into the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and explore the history of presidential power and immunity from the founding to present day, and whether the Court’s decision comports with the original understanding of the Constitution.  

Resources: 

• Trump v. United States (2024) 
• Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) 
• Michael McConnell, The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power Under the Constitution (2020) 
• “Former Federal Judge Michael McConnell Discusses Presidential Immunity and Trump Cases with Pam Karlan,” Stanford Legal podcast  
• Sai Prakash,  Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive (2015)  
• Sai Prakash, The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers (2020)  
• “Does the Supreme Court ruling make the president a king? Not quite, says this Virginia law professor,” WTOP News (July 2, 2024)  
• Sai Prakash, Prosecuting and Punishing Our Presidents, Texas Law Review (Nov. 2021)  

Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.  

Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.

Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. 

You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.