The court only has to “presume” it was an official act. That presumption is rebuttable. The prosecutor would present an argument that such a bribe was not an “official” act; the judge is free to accept that argument.
In ordinary situations, you’re presumed innocent until proven guilty. When you’re the president, according to SCOTUS, it’s presumed that the law doesn’t even apply to you because of immunity. And proving that it applies to you requires proving that what you did was or was not a nebulously defined “official act.”
This ruling will make it virtually impossible to convict a former president of anything.
The court only has to “presume” it was an official act. That presumption is rebuttable. The prosecutor would present an argument that such a bribe was not an “official” act; the judge is free to accept that argument.
In ordinary situations, you’re presumed innocent until proven guilty. When you’re the president, according to SCOTUS, it’s presumed that the law doesn’t even apply to you because of immunity. And proving that it applies to you requires proving that what you did was or was not a nebulously defined “official act.”
This ruling will make it virtually impossible to convict a former president of anything.
The official act is telling a department to give special treatment to a company. That’s out of bounds for trial.
That is presumptively out of bounds for trial. That is a rebuttable presumption.