Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction overturned as SCOTUS considers Trump immunity defense

Harvey Weinstein made the headlines again, and this time, it was because he caught a major break regarding his rape conviction.

The news came at the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing former President Donald Trump's immunity defense. The resulting decision will have massive implications for the numerous charges he faces.

According to the Guardian, Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction was overturned by a New York appeals court, sending shockwaves through the country and Hollywood.

The appeals court ruled that the "trial judge prejudiced the disgraced Hollywood mogul by allowing 'irrelevant' testimony," according to the outlet's report.

In a separate report, the Guardian noted:

In a 4-3 decision, the state of New York court of appeals ruled that the judge who oversaw Weinstein’s 2020 conviction prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings and was mistaken in allowing other women whose accusations were not a part of the 2020 case to testify.

"[Weinstein] was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three named complainants and, on appeal, claims that he was judged, not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts," the court's decision read.

It added, "We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes … The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial."

BREAKING.🚨

Disgraced Hollywood mogul and accused sexual predator Harvey Weinstein is RUSHED to the hospital after his felony rape conviction was overturned.

"They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He's got a lot of… pic.twitter.com/zlX8YZ55kF

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) April 27, 2024

As far as Trump's immunity arguments, it was reported by The Guardian that the U.S. Supreme Court seems to be leaning toward sending the immunity decision back to the lower courts, though it's still unclear what may happen.

The outlet noted:

During oral arguments, the justices appeared unlikely to grant Trump’s request for absolute immunity from criminal prosecution, with both Trump’s lawyer and the justice department’s lawyer agreeing there were certain private acts that presidents would have no protection for.

The conservative justices on the high court agreed that presidents should have some level of immunity, and "would favor the presiding trial judge in the case deciding whether any acts in the indictment were official and should be expunged."

If the high court ultimately decides to send the decision back down to the presiding judge -- in this case, Judge Tanya Chutkan -- the trial will undoubtedly be delayed even further out, likely past the November election.

Legal experts have already said that if that's the case, it's still a major win for the former president, as he could hypothetically win the election and appoint an AG who would have all of the charges against him drop.

The U.S. legal system is dominating the headlines for several high-profile cases, and it doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.