The news hit him like a bucket of cold water in the election campaign: Donald Trump He does not enjoy presidential immunity and can be prosecuted for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. This was determined in recent hours by a three-judge panel, which is now upholding a lower court decision. This confirmation collapses the argument that the former president was presumably exempt from prosecution in exercising his powers as head of state.
“For purposes of this criminal proceeding, former President Trump has become Citizen Trump, with all the defenses of another criminal defendant,” the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its 57th page. “But the executive immunity that may have protected him during his term as president no longer protects him from this prosecution,” the text continues.
The decision is in some ways a rejection of Trump’s argument that presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal charges long after they leave office.
“We cannot accept former President Trump’s assertion that a president has unfettered authority to commit crimes that would undermine the most fundamental check on the executive branch: the recognition and implementation of election results.” “We also cannot confirm his apparent assertion “that the executive branch has carte blanche to override the right of individual citizens to vote and have their votes counted,” the justices wrote in the decision.
The document also highlights concerns that setting a precedent in this regard could serve as a bad example for other officials. “We cannot accept that the position of presidency forever places its former occupants above the law,” the justices said. The experts argued that a “careful assessment” of their concerns led them to conclude that there was no “functional justification” for immunizing former presidents from federal prosecution in general or for immunizing former President Trump from the specific charges in the impeachment trial give.
The expected decision could mark a before-and-after in the presidential campaign, with Trump not only leading the Republican Party, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, but also presenting opportunities to defeat President Joe Biden, who will run again -Choice. in November.
The document comes as legal observers have expressed concern about the delay in a decision in the case since the last hearing on Jan. 9, which prompted the U.S. District Court judge to Tanya Chutkanwho originally rejected Trump’s immunity claims, called for the March 4 trial date to be suspended until the matter was resolved.
The decision reflects the skepticism of the justices at that hearing, who then pushed Trump’s team to consider the possible extremes that might be allowed within their framework, including that a former president could escape prosecution after being assassinated of a political rival. Trump’s team argued that presidents could only be impeached if they were first removed from office and convicted by the Senate, a reversal of what Trump’s legal team argued as he faced his second impeachment trial.
The justices also rejected an argument that was a recurring theme in both the court and the campaign: that he was being targeted for political reasons in a case that could lead to similar prosecutions of future leaders. In this context, they wrote: “As former President Trump recognizes that this is the first time since the foundation’s inception that a former president has been charged at the federal level, we conclude that there is a risk that former presidents may be impeached by unfounded charges Federal prosecutions appear to be minimally harassed.”
In that decision, they also rejected arguments that the threat of prosecution has a chilling effect on presidents. “Former presidents have understood that, at least in certain circumstances, they are subject to impeachment and criminal liability, so the possibility of executive action paralysis already exists,” they explained.
In a damning conclusion for Trump, they also point out that the interpretation of his immunity is inconsistent with the interpretation of previous former presidents and point to the president’s pardon Gerald Ford To Richard Nixon for example, to protect you from criminal prosecution.
This decision is still controversial and Trump will certainly continue his narrative of alleged political persecution by the judiciary. In context it is important to say that two of the judges, Michelle Childs And Florence Panwere appointed by Biden, but the third, Karen Hendersonis a veteran conservative appointed by George Bush father in 1990.
Now the president’s defense team is expected to take the matter to the Supreme Court, putting greater pressure on the times it shares its legal proceedings with the campaign itself. But without a doubt today brings him ever closer to the dock.