HE WORKS TO ASSURE SOME DEMOCRATS BY PHONE, VOTERS DO HAVE SOME CONCERNS, BUT WE START TONIGHT WITH THE BIG NEWS, A LANDMARK RULING FOR THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, DIVIDED 6-3 ALONG IDEOLOGICAL LINES, THEY SAY THE PRESIDENT NOW HAS ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION WHEN IT COMES TO OFFICIAL ACTS. INTERPRETATION, OF COURSE, WHAT CONSTITUTES AN OFFICIAL ACT IS LIKELY TO BE FURTHER DETERMINED BY THE COURTS. FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS LONG ARGUED IN FAVOR OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER. IF A PRESIDENT DOESN'T HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE A PRESIDENT. WE START OUR COVERAGE TONIGHT WITH A POWERHOUSE GROUP, JAN CRAWFORD, AND OUR CORRESPONDENT ON CAPITOL HILL, AND ONE OF THE GREAT LEGAL MINDS AT CBS NEWS, SCOTT McFARLAND. GREAT TO HAVE BOTH OF YOU HERE. WHAT A MOMENT. YOU HAVE THE SUPREME COURT WEIGHING IN ON PRESIDENTIAL POWER. LET'S PULL UP THE RULING. WE HAVE SIX JUSTICES RULING IN FAVOR, THE MAJORITY OPINION, YOU HAVE THREE IN DISSENT, THE DISSENT STRUCK ME AS REALLY SOMETHING THAT WAS RIGHT SIDE OF THE NORM WE SEE FROM THE SUPREME COURT.>> IT WAS WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF THE DEEPLY DIVIDED COURT, IT WAS UNUSUALLY SHARP AND FIERCE. WITH FEAR FOR OUR DEMOCRACY, I DISSENT. I'VE NEVER SEEN A JUSTICE DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN HIS SUPREME COURT OPINION OF DISSENT, AND SHE GOT THE OTHER LIBERALS TO JOIN. IT WAS ALSO INTERESTING THAT THE CHIEF JUSTICE THAT WROTE THE MAJORITY OPINION HAD SOME UNUSUALLY SHARP RESPONSES TO HER DISSENT, ACCUSING HER OF FEAR MONGERING, THESE EXTREME HYPOTHETICALS, NOT REALLY BASED ON ANY KIND OF ACTUAL REASONING. THIS KIND OF BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE JUSTICES ON THIS ISSUE REALLY SHOWS A STARK DIVIDE IN THIS COURT RIGHT NOW. >> HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW SIGNIFICANT THAT IS, TO HAVE THE CHARGE LANGUAGE RAISING CONCERNS ABOUT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, BUT ALSO TO HAVE THE CHIEF JUSTICE, YOU HAVE COVERED SO DEEPLY AND WRITTEN ABOUT EXTENSIVELY, TO HAVE HIM PUSH BACK AGAINST HIM, TO THROW COLD WATER ON THE ARGUMENT, WHAT KIND OF MOMENT IS THIS FOR THE COURT, IN TERMS OF HOW IT SEES ITSELF AND HOW THEY TALK MONTHS EACH OTHER, AND ITS OWN INTEGRITY WITH THE PUBLIC? >> YOU KNOW, THIS IS A DEEPLY DIVIDED COURT, WE'VE SEEN THIS ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES. GOING BACK TO THE DOBBS DIVISION, THE DECISION THAT OVERTURNED ROE VERSUS WADE, YOU HAVE AN ISSUE THAT JOHN ROBERTS, WHO WORKED IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH ALONG WITH OTHER JUSTICES OVER THE YEARS, HE DOES CARE DEEPLY ABOUT THE ISSUE OF EXECUTIVE POWER. HE BELIEVES, AND I'M NOT SURPRISED, HE WROTE THIS DECISION, HE WROTE ALL OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER DECISIONS, THIS DECISION, AS THE COURT NOTED, GOES WELL BEYOND TRUMP. UNLIKE THE BRANCHES OF THE COURT TODAY, THEY ARE NOT JUST CONCERNED WITH THE ISSUE IN FRONT OF HIM, IF THE EXISTING SITUATION, IT'S THIS PECULIAR MOMENT IN TIME WE ARE IN. THERE WAS A REAL CONCERN ON THIS COURT ABOUT SOME KIND OF RESTRAINT, WITHOUT SOME KIND OF IMMUNITY TEACHER PRESENTS COULD FACE, ROUTINE RESCUES IS WHEN SOMEONE AGREED WITH THEIR POLICIES, IMMIGRATION, WHATEVER, AND IN FACT, TRUMP T DATA, WHEN HE RAISED THE PROSPECT THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN, IF OUT OF OFFICE, COULD BE PROSECUTED FOR HIS IMMIGRATION TO LESSEE. YOU HAVE THIS BACK AND FORTH. VERY, VERY BITTER DISPUTES AMONG THESE JUSTICES. THEY WILL BE BACK FOR THE LAST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER. THAT SEEMS TO COOL OFF TEMPERS. >> LET'S BRING UP TRUMPS RESPONSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HE SAID IN ALL CAPS, BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY, PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN. HE CELEBRATED TODAY. YOU COVERED THAT JANUARY 6 POSSIBLE TRIAL ABOUT THE FORMER PRESIDENTS CONDUCT AND MANY OTHER CASES. HE'S IN A GOOD MOOD BASED ON THAT POSTING, BUT LET'S BRING UP A PHOTO OF THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., SHE IS OVERSEEING THE JANUARY 6 CASE, SCOTT, WHAT IS HER ROLE NOW, IN DETERMINING WHETHER TRUMP WILL FACE A TRIAL ON JANUARY 6 OR NOT, BEFORE NOVEMBER 6? >> THE CASE IS NOW BACK IN HER HANDS, BUT HOW MUCH OF THE CASE REMAINS TO BE SEEN. THIS CASE HAS BEEN WITH HER SINCE AUGUST 2023. SHE WAS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO THIS CASE, AND MOVED SWIFTLY THROUGH IT, AND SET A TRIAL DATE FOR MARCH 4, IF YOU REMEMBER. THE APPEALS WENT TO THE COURT, TO THE SUPREME COURT, EVERYTHING FROZE IN PLACE ON FAIRBURY SIXTH. IT IS NOW UNFROZEN, INSTEAD OF STUCK IN THE MUD, IT IS STUCK IN QUICKSAND, SUCKING DOWN ALL THE BANDWIDTH OF THIS COURT. IF HE CAN STAY ALIVE, ALL OF THAT ILLUMINATES THE PROSPECT OF HAVING A TRIAL BEFORE NOVEMBER 5, THE PRE-ELECTION TRIAL WAS ALREADY A LONG SHOT. THERE'S NO SHOT? >> I DON'T SEE ANY PAT FORDE WITH ANY CHALLENGE FROM THE FORMER PRESIDENT TO THE CASE ITSELF, AND THE INDICTMENT. IT'S GOING TO HAVE TO BE LITIGATED. IT'S GOING TO REQUIRE HEARINGS. IT COULD BE A MATTER OF DAYS UNTIL HE DOES SOMETHING TO PUSH FORWARD THE CASE. HE MAY BE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO BASED ON THE TRAJECTORY FROM THE SUPREME COURT, BUT IT WAS ALREADY A LONG SHOT, HE HAD ALREADY TOLD THEM THEY HAD TWO OR THREE MONTHS TO GET READY FOR TRIAL. WE NEED TIME TO GET READY FOR TRIAL, AND THIS CASE IS FROZEN. IF IT CAME BACK TO HER UNBLEMISHED TODAY, SHE WOULD STILL GIVE THE PARTIES UNTIL SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER, IT'S GOOD TO GET A TRIAL BY NOVEMBER 5, NOW THERE'S THE COUPLE GETTING FACTOR, AND NUMBER OF COMPETING FACTORS, THIS IS GOING TO FALL TO A MULTI-MONTH, IF NOT MULTIYEAR PATH.>> QUICKLY, DID THE MAJORITY OPINION OR JUSTICES QUESTION THE CREDIBILITY OF THE SPECIAL COUNSEL? >> YES, THOMAS WAS ON A CLEAR RD., MAC AND CONCURRING OPINION I THINK WE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE IN THE DOCUMENT CASE IN FLORIDA, THAT WAS NOT AN ISSUE DIRECTLY RAISED IN THE SUPREME COURT, IN THIS CASE, THAT WAS DIRECTLY RAISED IN THE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE, THE JUDGE IS NOW CONSIDERING THAT, JUSTICE THOMAS HAS WRITTEN, WHAT I BELIEVE IS AN OPINION THAT SHE MAY WELL EMBRACE OR SEE AS A ROAD MAP, WHICH WOULD MEAN THE SPECIAL COUNSEL WAS APPOINTED UNCONSTITUTIONALLY. >> A LOT OF SERIOUS ISSU
