Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court to throw out the federal election subversion criminal case in Washington, DC, again arguing in a filing late Saturday that he is protected under presidential immunity.

Trump wants the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower-court ruling rejecting his claims of immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case. The appeals panel is weighing Trump’s request, which the Supreme Court on Friday refused to take up on an expedited basis, as Smith requested.

The filing reiterates what the former president’s lawyers have repeatedly asserted – that Trump was working in his official capacity as president to “ensure election integrity” when he allegedly undermined the 2020 election results and therefore has immunity, and that his indictment is unconstitutional because presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” unless they are impeached and convicted by the Senate.

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Accidents my ass, Joe can start hunting SCotUS Justices for sport if they fuck up & find that a President is immune to criminal prosecution.

    • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’d just be happy if he dissolved the current SCOTUS then created a new one with term limits, independent ethics oversight, etc.

      • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
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        9 months ago

        Congress could dissolve the Court on Tuesday if they wanted to. Impeach and removal. Not every justice has behaved egregiously enough to merit it, but it’s a political decision anyway.

    • Carlo@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      I mean, not really. The ruling wouldn’t protect him from being impeached, and Democrats would definitely vote to impeach him if he made a heel turn like that. Most Democrats actually value the rule of law.

      • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Law? It’d be perfectly legal. That’s the point he’d be making with his Mossberg.