Federal appeals court judges in Washington expressed skepticism about former President Donald Trump’s immunity from prosecution for allegedly plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
They questioned the jurisdiction to consider the appeal and suggested that Trump’s appeal could be dismissed.
The outcome could have significant implications for the case against Trump and the broader question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for actions taken in office.
Trump’s lawyers argue for immunity, while prosecutors maintain that a former president enjoys no immunity from prosecution.
“I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson said.
“A president has to have immunity,” Trump said.
“To authorize the prosecution of a president for official acts would open a Pandora’s box from which this nation may never recover,” said attorney John Sauer.
“If a president has to look over his shoulder or her shoulder every time he or she has to make a controversial decision and wonder if ‘after I leave office, am I going to jail for this when my political opponents take power?’ that inevitably dampens the ability of the president.”
“The president has a unique constitutional role but he is not above the law. Separation of powers principles, constitutional text, history, precedent and immunity doctrines all point to the conclusion that a former president enjoys no immunity from prosecution,” prosecutor James Pearce said.
“Never before has there been allegations that a sitting president has, with private individuals and using the levers of power, sought to fundamentally subvert the democratic republic and the electoral system,” Pearce added later.
“And frankly, if that kind of fact pattern arises again, I think it would be awfully scary if there weren’t some sort of mechanism by which to reach that criminally.”
The court is expected to work quickly, and the appeal is crucial to Trump’s strategy of postponing the case until after the November election.
