On the line The supreme court handed Trumpa partial win. Now what?

Ruling means the former president is now less likely to face trial in the subversion case before the election

- Hugo Lowell

The US supreme court's decision that Donald Trump has some immunity from criminal prosecution marked a win for the ex-president. While Trump is not off the hook in his federal election subversion case, he is even less likely to face trial in these proceedings before the election.

The justices' 6-3 decision, which fell squarely along ideological lines, will wind up delaying this trial, playing into Trump's legal strategy of near-perpetual postponements.

This decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, guts one of the allegations and challenges the legal viability of the others, raising the stakes still more.

The court remanded the case back to the presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan to apply a three-part test to decide which actions were protected - but Roberts preemptively made clear that some were definitively out.

On some of the closer calls, Roberts also gave suggestions on behalf of the majority conservative opinion, which could bear on Chutkan when she eventually weighs each allegation line by line and decides whether it can be introduced in any future trial.