Last week, on February 6th, 2024, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges unanimously agreed with a 57-page decision that Trump would be eligible to be prosecuted for alleged crimes he committed while in office. This is considered a win for special counsel Jack Smith, who is charging Trump on 4 criminal counts, including conspiracy and fraud. He wants to put Trump on trial for his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential elections. Trump quickly decided to appeal to the Supreme Court as he is the top Republican candidate and is likely to rematch with Joe Biden in November, 2024.
Today, Monday, February 12, 2024, Donald Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to pause the appeal’s court ruling for criminal immunity. His lawyers claim their ruling is “a stunning breach of precedent and historical norms;” using the Constitution’s separation of power makes it so that the court cannot review the president’s official acts and that charges are only valid if Congress impeached the president. Although Trump was impeached twice during his presidency, the Senate acquitted him both times, meaning he can run for president again. However, the statement about the charges only being valid if the impeachment has succeeded is false, and the judges dismissed it as it lacked rationality and logic. They also said that allowing a previous president to face criminal charges would ruin the presidency and be a threat to democracy. The lawyers pleaded for the lower courts to consider Trump’s immunity further.
Yet, D.C. judges counter that accusation by writing, “Any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.” Although Trump was a president, his era has ended. He is now considered at the same level as any individual and subjected to criminal prosecution like anyone else; any protection he had when he was President no longer applies to him. It is to note that both liberal and conservative judges rejected Trump’s claims of immunity.
In hopes of preventing the proceedings, Trump requests the Supreme Court to grant a stay until the D.C. judges reconsider the ruling, an en banc review. An en banc is a French term used to describe a special procedure where all judges of that court, in this case, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, hear a case. Trump’s application is still currently still on hold until the Supreme Court either accepts or rejects his grant. It takes 5 justices to grant a stay, 3 of whom were nominated by Trump himself.
Links:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/12/trump-immunity-ruling-supreme-court-00141034
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/12/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-immunity.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/12/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-delay-immunity-ruling-in-election-case.html
- Jessica Xia
2 comments:
Considering Trump's participation in the January 6 insurrection, I very much hope that both the appellate court and the Supreme Court find him ineligible to run for president, both for the upcoming 2024 election and for any following ones. Furthermore, Trump’s recent comment in the South Carolina rally about letting Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t meet the spending guidelines on defense, is incredibly concerning. This openly encourages Russia to open warfare on NATO countries and, by extension, the United States. If his previous actions don’t make him ineligible for running, I hope his current ones do, as he seems to have no care for the future of the United States, only wishing to fearmonger until people bow to his will.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/10/politics/trump-russia-nato/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/12/1230835916/trump-told-s-c-rally-that-he-supports-russian-aggression-against-nato-allies
I agree with Amit, unfortunately though, his irrational behavior only makes him more popular with his supporters. They only believe Trump, and are willing to reject any sort of limitation on his power or refutation of his ridiculous statements as the "system" and the liberals out to get them. This relates to the Checkology about how a conspiracy theory becomes widespread, as people who already have suspicions around everything around them are willing to believe even the most ridiculous things because what's true at this point? What I hope is that not only do the appellate and Supreme Court find him ineligible to run for president, but he and his supporters are put in their place if they try to resist this. So far, I don't think there has been enough substantive consequence for Trump's ridiculous actions, and it will take a firm hand to deliver justice.
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