Kavanaugh pointed to the era of independent counsels, and said the system made it too easy for presidents to be subject to long investigations and possible indictments. As a young lawyer, Kavanaugh worked for independent counsel Kenneth Starr and his long investigation of former President Bill Clinton.

“This case has huge implications for the presidency,” Kavanaugh said.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch agreed. “I’m concerned about the future use of the criminal prosecutions to target political opponents,” he said.

The court’s liberals were more troubled about the prospect of future presidents being entirely shielded for the misuse of their power.

What about a president who “orders the military to assassinate one of his rivals?,” asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Trump’s lawyer John Sauer replied that may well be “an official act” that is shielded from prosecution. He agreed presidents can be removed from office through impeachment while insisting that later criminal prosecutions are forbidden, unless the president is impeached and convicted.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she too worried about a future in which presidents know they need not follow the law.

The “most powerful person in the world and no potential penalty for committing crimes. It could be turning the Oval Office into a crime center,” she said.

The special counsel had hoped the justices would rule quickly and clear the way for Trump’s trial to begin in the District of Columbia.

That seems quite unlikely now. The justices are likely to spend the next two months crafting an opinion that says a former president has immunity from being prosecuted for some official actions, but not for private and personal schemes that violate the law.

Both Roberts and Gorsuch said they favored sending the case back to the D.C. Court of Appeals so those judges could decide which parts of the Trump indictment can go before the jury.

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