Appeals Court Says Trump Can Be Prosecuted For Trying To Overthrow America, Like Common Human
Appeals Court Says Trump Can Be Prosecuted For Trying To Overthrow America, Like Common Human
Election interference!
Evergreen statement, but Donald Trump is having a bad day in courtrooms.
Big huge news from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel has unanimously ruled that Trump doesn’t in fact have permanent immunity or divine infallibility, and specifically has no immunity from being prosecuted for trying to overthrow democracy and overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost.
Special Counsel Jack Smith had gone to both the appeals court and the Supreme Court at the same time, asking both to go ahead and get moving on this case. You know, just in case the Supreme Court’s answer was to tell him to go through the usual channels. Look, SCOTUS! He’s going! He went! (SCOTUS said no two weeks later to a request from Smith to go ahead and hear Trump’s claim.)
“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 recognition and implementation of election results,” the panel of three judges wrote. “Nor can we sanction his apparent contention that the Executive has carte blanche to violate the rights of individual citizens to vote and to have their votes count.”
Record screech whaaaaaaat? No crimes for President? What kind of Deranged Jack Smith country is this?
Trump of course is already demanding an en banc review of the case from the whole DC Circuit, and he wants the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. Trump has until the Feb. 12 — six days from now — to appeal.
The DC Circuit judges were highly skeptical of Trump’s nonsense last month during arguments. “I think it is paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” said Judge Karen Henderson, the only Republican appointee on the panel. “Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival?” asked Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee. “That is an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six.”
They just didn’t buy Trump’s arguments that he couldn’t do his duties as president if he couldn’t commit crimes. And they didn’t seem to like the imaginary legal theory Trump’s lawyers pulled out of their asses that former presidents can’t be criminally prosecuted unless they were first impeached and convicted for the same offenses by Congress. (Remember how Mitch McConnell dramatically explained after the Senate acquitted Trump for political reasons the second time around that the criminal justice system could have its way with Trump whenever it pleases once he’s not president anymore?)
In the ruling, the judges rejected every ketchup packet Trump and his lawyers threw at the wall. Yes, Trump can be prosecuted for acts he committed while president. No, he does not have immunity. Even if he did have some immunity for certain official acts, there is no world where fomenting an attack on the country and attempting to overthrow the government to overturn an election he lost is an “official act.”
And get fucked with this idea former presidents can’t be prosecuted unless they’re first impeached and convicted by Congress. There’s a whole section entitled “Impeachment” is not Criminal, which explains for the easily confused how criminal cases and political impeachments don’t have jackshit to do with each other, but nice try, morons.
(They even talked about how a bunch of the Republican senators who acquitted Trump of trying to overthrow the government had many reasons for doing so, many of which had absolutely zero to do with whether Trump had tried to overthrow the government.)
So no, the judges wrote while presumably trying not to fall out laughing, double jeopardy does not apply.
In addition to the quote we included above, the judges wrote:
In light of the very different procedures and purposes associated with impeachment proceedings as compared to criminal proceedings, former President Trump’s reliance on the Double Jeopardy Clause is misplaced. Impeachment is not a criminal process and cannot result in criminal punishment.
He does not seriously contend otherwise; and he does not explain why he believes that impeachment can implicate “double jeopardy principles” when it does not involve criminal punishment.
The judges concluded:
We have balanced former President Trump’s asserted interests in executive immunity against the vital public interests that favor allowing this prosecution to proceed. We conclude that “[c]oncerns of public policy, especially as illuminated by our history and the structure of our government” compel the rejection of his claim of immunity in this case. We also have considered his contention that he is entitled to categorical immunity from criminal liability for any assertedly “official” action that he took as President — a contention that is unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution. Finally, we are unpersuaded by his argument that this prosecution is barred by “double jeopardy principles.” Accordingly, the order of the district court is AFFIRMED.
So that happened.
On CNN, legal analyst Elie Honig explained the ruling, and gave his read on why he thinks this may make it easier for the Supreme Court to just stay out of it and let the lower court stand.
So that’s bad for Trump and good for America. Maybe we can actually get the fuck on with convicting the motherfucker and throwing away the fucking key.
In summary and in conclusion, something else bad happened in Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York — bad for him, not for the world — but that’s for another post.
Real bad day for Trump!
[Washington Post / ruling / video via Jeff Storobinsky / h/t JoeMyGod]
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Someone should remind MAGA yet again that the sword cuts both ways. Sure they have their pewpew sticks if OHJB does the tyranny, but I'm not sure an M1A1 is all that worried about a bunch of overwrought chucklefucks with ARs.
"Trump has until the Feb. 12 — six days from now — to appeal." So I assume he'll file an appeal on 2/12 at 11:59 PM.