Top Line
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Monday on whether former President Donald Trump has “immunity” from criminal prosecution for some actions he committed while in office. Trump has argued he is immune from criminal prosecution in all four criminal cases against him, a landmark decision that could clarify one of the former president's most favored legal defenses.
Then-President Donald Trump addressed his supporters on January 6th at the Ellipse near the White House. … [+]
Key Facts
President Trump is seeking to dismiss a federal lawsuit alleging he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, arguing that he is “immune” from the actions challenging the results of the presidential election because they occurred while he was in the White House. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether former presidents can be criminally prosecuted for acts allegedly committed in official capacity.
Former presidents haven't had much luck so far with their immunity defense. An appeals court panel rejected Trump's argument, ruling that “former President Trump has become Citizen Trump, entitled to the same defense as any other criminal defendant.” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also declared that Trump's time in office did not give him a “divine right of king” to avoid criminal liability for governing his fellow citizens.
In addition to the federal election lawsuit, Trump is arguing that the Georgia charges should be dropped because of immunity, making similar claims to the federal election lawsuit, and that he also faces federal charges for improperly handling classified documents, alleging that Trump decided to “classify the records.” [he brought back to Mar-a-Lago] He will treat it as “personal” while in office.
Trump also tried unsuccessfully to use the argument to delay his criminal trial in New York earlier this year, when he asked for the trial to be paused pending a Supreme Court decision because he believed prosecutors could present comments he made in 2018 that he argued were covered by “presidential immunity.”
The Justice Department has long maintained that a president cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office, arguing that the memo “undue impairs the executive branch.” Nixon vs. Fitzgerald While the president cannot be held liable in civil lawsuits for acts performed in the course of his official duties, the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise. Clinton v. Jones The president can be sued in civil court for actions he took before taking office.
But it has yet to be decided whether the former president will face criminal prosecution for actions he took while in the White House, and this will be the first time the Supreme Court has weighed in on the matter.
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When will President Trump's election lawsuit go to trial?
The Supreme Court's decision on Monday will determine when and if President Trump's federal election lawsuit goes to trial at all. The case is on hold amid an ongoing immunity fight, and the justices' delays in ruling on Trump's immunity have stretched the trial's timeline. Legal experts speculate that if the Supreme Court finds Trump does not have immunity and the case moves forward immediately, the earliest the trial could begin is October, which would be too soon for a decision to be made by November's election day. The justices could also rule to send the immunity issue back to a lower court first before resuming the lawsuit, which would drag on even longer. If that happens (and the justices hinted at this possibility during oral argument), the case could drag on and, if elected, Trump could appoint a Justice Department official to dismiss the charges before the trial begins.
Important Quotes
In a written appeals court ruling denying Trump's request to dismiss the federal election lawsuit, the court wrote that Trump's legal arguments “undermine our nation's system of separation of powers by removing the President from that system,” adding, “Presidential immunity from federal prosecution means that, with respect to the President, Congress cannot legislate, the Executive cannot indict, and the Judicial System cannot review. We cannot accept that the presidency should permanently place those who hold that office above the law.”
Contra
Trump argues that he is protected by the Constitution's impeachment clause, which says that impeachment “shall not go beyond removal from office.” The Justice Department noted that in Trump's view, that means “the President can only be indicted if he is impeached and convicted in a Senate trial.” Criminal prosecution of the president, Trump argues, would violate the separation of powers between the various branches of government, and that impeachment and conviction by the Senate is “the only remedy for crimes committed by the President in office.” He also argues that making former presidents open to prosecution would discourage them from taking necessary steps while in office, and that presidents should be able to “cross the line” without being indicted. That could happen even if they ordered the assassination of a political opponent, Trump's lawyers told the Supreme Court.
tangent
Federal district and appeals court judges have ruled against Trump in civil lawsuits in which he claimed immunity. The judges ruled that the civil lawsuits against Trump for his alleged incitement on January 6th were Nixon vs. Fitzgerald The Supreme Court dismissed Trump's lawsuit, arguing that his actions in trying to overturn the election results and encouraging his supporters to riot were not part of the duties of the presidency, and also rejected Trump's claim of immunity from liability in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by author E. Jean Carroll.
Amazing facts
The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump's legal immunity, ruling in 2020 that the then-president had to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking his tax returns. “No citizen, not even the president, can entirely escape the general obligation to produce evidence when required in a criminal proceeding,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision.
Chief Reviewer
The Justice Department has argued that Trump has no immunity from criminal prosecution, arguing in its appeal to the Supreme Court that “the Constitution's text, structure, and history do not support such a claim.” The Justice Department argues that Trump's argument that impeachment is the only way to hold a president accountable is not supported by history and “collapses when applied to common sense.” “No matter what immunity a sitting president may enjoy, the United States can only have one chief executive officer at a time, and that position does not confer lifetime 'get out of jail free' immunity,” prosecutors argued.
Main Background
Trump has been charged with four felony counts of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. This is one of four pending criminal cases against the former president and, together with the Georgia case, one of two related to the 2020 election. If convicted, the former president could face prison time. The immunity motions that Trump filed in the four cases against him are consistent with the former president's broader strategy to delay criminal trials, particularly until after the 2024 election, and if re-elected, could lead to him appointing a Justice Department prosecutor who would drop the federal charges and further delay the Georgia trial. The only criminal case that has gone to trial so far is in Manhattan, stemming from the hush money payments, which resulted in Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts.
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