The US Appeals Court just rejected President Trump’s claim of Presidential immunity in his federal election interference case.
This comes ahead of Thursday when the US Supreme Court is supposed to review the Colorado ballot removal case, which claims Trump should be removed from the ballot over Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump’s broad claim that he is immune from prosecution for alleged criminal acts he committed as president in trying to overturn the 2020 election in a chain of events that led to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump will almost certainly immediately appeal to the Supreme Court in a bid to prevent the trial from going ahead as scheduled. The Supreme Court could make a quick decision on whether to hear the case and could fast-track any ruling. The court gave Trump until Feb. 12 to appeal before the lower court can act again.
“President Trump respectfully disagrees with the DC Circuit’s decision and will appeal it in order to safeguard the Presidency and the Constitution,” his campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The decision by a three-judge panel at the US court of appeals for the DC circuit took particular issue with Trump’s position that he could only be prosecuted if he had been convicted in a Senate impeachment trial first.
“We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a president has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power,” the unsigned but unanimous opinion from the three-judge panel said.
“At bottom, former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three branches,” the opinion said. “We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.”
The defeat for Trump technically returns the case and jurisdiction to the trial court. But the adverse ruling paves the way for Trump to seek further appeals that could delay for weeks or months the start of the 4 March trial date set by US district judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington.
But according to this ruling every other former President can be put on a trial and this could end up as good news for the MAGA movement because Trump is not guilty anyway!
Catturd tweeted this just a few moments ago:
So … according to a DC appeals court …
Barack Obama doesn’t have Presidential immunity.
Bill Clinton doesn’t have Presidential immunity.
George Bush doesn’t have Presidential immunity.
Joe Biden doesn’t have Presidential immunity.Good to know.
This probably opens a space for future trials of every living former President!
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