https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-immunity-appeals-court/index.html
A federal appeals court said Tuesday that Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed during his presidency, flatly rejecting Trump’s arguments that he shouldn’t have to go on trial on federal election subversion charges.In a striking 57-page unanimous opinion, the panel of three DC Circuit judges wrote that that the justice system allowed for a former president to face charges for actions he took while in office, and that the public interest in holding a potentially criminal president accountable outweighed any potential “chilling effect” on the presidency.
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the opinion says.
“Former President Trump lacked any lawful discretionary authority to defy federal criminal law and he is answerable in court for his conduct,” the judges added.
Trump has pledged to appeal and has until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to temporarily block the ruling to delay his case again from heading to trial.
It’s not certain how long the Supreme Court could take to consider such a request or an appeal, which would come as special counsel Jack Smith seeks to bring Trump to trial. An early March trial date has already been postponed.
Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday’s decision:
Presidents do not have ‘unbounded authority to commit crimes’
Throughout their opinion, Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs rejected all of Trump’s arguments of sweeping protections around the presidency.
“It would be a striking paradox if the President, who alone is vested with the constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,’ were the sole officer capable of defying those laws with impunity,” the appeals court wrote on Tuesday.
Trump’s stances in court, the judges wrote, stand in contrast to the principle that all Americans – including former presidents – are subject to the same laws.
Childs and Pan were appointed by President Joe Biden. Henderson was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush.
