The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Donald Trump enjoys some immunity from prosecution as a former President, a ruling that will likely delay his trial for alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

The 6-3 decision comes four months ahead of the election in which Trump is the Republican candidate to take on Democrat Joe Biden.

“We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office,” stated Chief Justice John Roberts, CNN has reported. “At least with respect to the president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute.”

“The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law,” Roberts added.

While Roberts was joined by five ‘conservative’ judges, three ‘liberal’ judges expressed dissent.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a dissent stated that the criminal immunity granted to Trump fundamentally alters the structure of the presidency. “It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law.”

In the courtroom, Sotomayor declared that the presidents’ protection provided by the court “is just as bad as it sounds, and it is baseless”.