Thursday Recap: Supreme Court hears hours-long debate over Trump's immunity claim

While Donald Trump was on trial in Manhattan, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the former president's claims of presidential immunity.

In nearly three hours of debate on Thursday, the high court wrestled with this question: "Whether and if so to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office?"

Special Counsel attorney Michael Dreeben argued that U.S. presidents cannot enjoy blanket immunity from criminal prosecution Thursday. Trump attorney John Sauer contended that prosecuting a president for official acts while in office is “incompatible” with the U.S. Constitution. 

Over the course of questioning, the justices seemed generally split along ideological lines. 

"If the potential for criminal liability is taken off the table, wouldn't there be a significant risk that future presidents would be emboldened to commit crimes with abandon while they're in office?" Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked in an exchange with Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer.

"Once we say, ‘No criminal liability, Mr. President, you can do whatever you want,’ I'm worried that we would have a worse problem than the problem of the president feeling constrained to follow the law while he's in office," Jackson said. 

Conversely, Justice Samuel Alito questioned whether limiting immunity for a former president would send the country into a destabilizing cycle.

"If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a real possible after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement, but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy? And we can look around the world and find countries where we have seen this process, where the loser gets thrown in jail," Alito remarked. 

"We're writing a rule for the ages," Justice Neil Gorsuch later stated. 

A decision in the case is expected early this summer.