Trump Loses Appeal of Presidential Immunity

In order for the federal cases against Trump to be dropped, the courts are going to have to rule that Trump’s appearance at the Stop the Steal rally and any words or actions related to the event fell under the purview of his presidential duties.

So far, the courts have not seen it that way.

To that point, Trump has just lost his appeal on his immunity claim, which means he is down to his last hope… the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court to Decide

So far, Trump’s attorneys have been unable to prove that Trump’s actions regarding the January 6 riot were part of his presidential duties.

I have to say, though, the language in the ruling may have left the door open on this one.

The court wrote, “For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.

“But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as president no longer protects him against this prosecution.”

In that language, they are suggesting that even if the action in question was a protected act, a president could be brought up on charges after the fact, and that is not what is in question here.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that no president has absolute immunity. That immunity is only related to official acts that are related to the office of the president.

For instance, if we go back to Barack Obama’s disastrous drone strike that mistakenly took out a wedding party… as horrible as that was, Obama cannot be brought before a court in the United States for murder.

What the Supreme Court will have to answer is if that rally was an act of a sitting president defending the integrity of our elections or if that was a candidate promoting the idea of a vote being stolen to save his campaign.

There are legitimate arguments to be made on both sides, so this is not an easy decision for the court to make.

My belief is that Justice Roberts will side with the previous court’s decision, which means that if another conservative justice walks across the aisle, Trump will lose.

Now, I will say this… from previous decisions, virtually every time that Roberts has done that, at least one of the three Trump-appointed justices has followed him, so do not be surprised if Trump loses this case before the Supreme Court, which will then lead to Trump attacking a justice (or justices) that he appointed to the court.