{"id":2057572,"date":"2023-10-06T07:07:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T11:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-trumps-presidential-immunity-defense-may-just-lead-to-an-election-indictment-dismissal\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T07:11:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T11:11:03","slug":"why-trumps-presidential-immunity-defense-may-just-lead-to-an-election-indictment-dismissal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-trumps-presidential-immunity-defense-may-just-lead-to-an-election-indictment-dismissal\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s immunity defense could result in dismissal of election indictment."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-trumps-presidential-immunity-defense-may-just-lead-to-an-election-indictment-dismissal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2057572&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Thursday afternoon in a Washington, D.C., federal court, former President Donald Trump filed\u2063 a motion to dismiss the case\u200d pending against him there for\u2062 his alleged actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The\u2063 motion cites presidential immunity as a ground to dismiss the case in\u200d its entirety.<\/p>\n<p>The motion persuasively argues that the D.C. case should be dismissed, and\u200c if past practice is\u200b any guide all proceedings could and should be stayed while this issue is litigated fully, all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary. Notably, this same\u200c reasoning should apply to the ongoing Georgia prosecution as well. A number \u2062of legal commentators have\u2064 anticipated this move and have stated from the outset that presidential immunity \u2064should be an absolute bar to \u2063the prosecution of Trump for his \u2064alleged \u2062acts in office that \u200dunderlie the federal prosecution in D.C.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>1. What Is Presidential Immunity?<\/h2>\n<p>In essence, President Trump is arguing that \u2064presidents, even after their terms in office are\u200d over, are absolutely\u200b immune from criminal prosecutions arising out of their acts in\u2064 office that fall\u200d within the \u201couter perimeter\u201d of their official responsibilities\u200c as president, unless they have first been both impeached \u200band convicted by the House of Representatives\u2062 and\u2062 Senate.<\/p>\n<p>He is arguing that all \u200cof the acts he is alleged to \u2062have committed fall within this absolute immunity. This\u2062 view,\u200b as the motion \u2064filed Thursday makes clear, \u2063is deeply\u2064 rooted in bedrock legal principles, in caselaw, in the Constitution, and in \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-trumps-presidential-immunity-defense-may-just-lead-to-an-election-indictment-dismissal\/\" title=\"Trump's immunity defense could result in dismissal of election indictment.\">actual practice dating back centuries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200b <em>Nixon v. Fitzgerald<\/em>, the Supreme Court ruled that a\u200c president has absolute immunity from civil liability for acts within the outer perimeter\u2064 of his \u200cofficial responsibilities. In short, you cannot sue a former president personally because his official acts harmed you. This \u200bis an \u2064unquestioned Supreme Court precedent, based on very serious, core separation \u2064of \u2063powers concerns.<\/p>\n<p>If\u200c a president were susceptible to civil suit for \u200dhis official\u200b acts, the court held\u200c that\u2064 this would \u201craise unique risks to the functioning of government\u201d in light of the \u201csingular importance of the President\u2019s\u200c duties.\u201d The purpose of presidential immunity, in the <em>Fitzgerald<\/em> court\u2019s\u2062 view, is to\u200d prevent concerns about being sued clouding \u2063the president\u2019s judgment and crippling his\u200c ability to act.\u2064 Presidents need \u200dto be able to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities without having to worry about being hauled into court when their terms expire.<\/p>\n<h2>2. The <strong>Impeachment Clause<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This view is \u2064also rooted in the actual text of the Constitution. The impeachment\u200c clause of Article I\u200b provides\u2064 that, although impeachment\u2062 proceedings do not themselves carry a punishment beyond removal from office, a party convicted after impeachment, \u201cshall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By specifying that a president impeached and convicted could be subject to indictment, etc., the Constitution plainly and clearly implies \u2062that absent impeachment and conviction a president cannot be criminally prosecuted for his official acts. Democrats impeached President\u2062 Trump \u200btwice, and on both occasions\u2064 the Senate acquitted him. Absent a conviction at an impeachment trial, presidential immunity applies to all of President \u2062Trump\u2019s acts\u200b that fall within the \u200bouter perimeter of his official responsibilities, and for these acts\u2063 at least he cannot be\u2062 prosecuted.<\/p>\n<h2>3. What Is the Scope of Presidential<strong> Immunity<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n<p>If we accept\u200b that presidential immunity applies in the criminal context, the\u200c key question is whether the\u2063 acts that underlie President Trump\u2019s indictment in D.C. fall within \u2062this \u200d\u201couter perimeter\u201d of \u2064his official responsibilities as president. I think the answer is clearly yes.<\/p>\n<p>First, it is very important \u200dto note that in the context of assessing \u200dimmunity, the motive of a\u2062 president is irrelevant.\u2062 Why \u2062the \u200bpresident did something is immaterial; the question is what the president is alleged to \u2062have done and whether those acts were within this very broad outer perimeter of his official responsibilities. And because\u200b the scope of presidential authority and of \u200bpresidential\u2063 responsibilities is so vast, the catchment of presidential immunity\u2063 is similarly expansive.<\/p>\n<p>When you actually review the\u200b alleged acts that underlie the D.C. indictment, my view is that each and every one clearly falls within the outer\u200b perimeter \u2064of President Trump\u2019s official responsibilities. These acts include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Making public statements about\u2063 the administration of the 2020 federal \u2063election.<\/strong> Courts have consistently held that\u200c communicating to the public about matters of \u2063national\u2064 concern is well within the scope of official governmental duties. It is tough to \u200dsee then how\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-joe-biden-say-mark-my-words-peace-and-democracy-will-be-made-in-uganda\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Did Joe Biden Say, \u2018Mark My Words: Peace And Democracy Will Be Made In Uganda\u2019?\">making public statements<\/a> about the administration\u200c of a\u2062 federal election \u200cwould not fall within at least\u200d the outer perimeter of the president\u2019s\u2062 official responsibilities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Communications with public officials, both state and federal, about the administration \u2062of the 2020 federal election.<\/strong> Instructing his own Department of Justice to do more to enforce \u2063the law as he saw it was clearly within the \u2063ambit of President Trump\u2019s presidential responsibilities, \u2064and appointment of governmental \u200bofficers is a \u200cpresidential responsibility entrusted to the president \u2063by\u2063 the Constitution \u200bitself. The same is true of\u2063 communications with state officials. The president has \u200ca constitutional obligation to ensure the integrity of federal elections; communicating with \u2063the state officials responsible for election administration \u2063at various stages therefore easily falls within\u200d the outer perimeter of the\u200d president\u2019s official responsibilities. It is tough to see how the president urging Congress and\u2062 the vice president to take certain legislative acts would not constitute an act within \u200bhis official\u200d responsibilities. Trump\u2019s motion even points \u200bto the interesting historical analogy of President Grant\u2019s actions in the wake of the election of \u200d1876, where \u200bhe communicated with Congress directly about electoral count issues and problems with voter fraud in a \u2062number of states.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Taking steps to\u200c allow \u200cCongress and the vice president to take action on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-judge-rejects-eastman-motion-to-postpone-disbarment-hearing\/\" title=\"California judge denies Eastman's request to delay disbarment hearing.\">federal election fraud<\/a> that he believed \u200coccurred.<\/strong> Although the indictment makes \u200dmuch of President Trump\u2019s attempts to corral alternate\u2064 slates of electors in key \u2062states, these acts \u2062are, as President Trump\u2019s motion details, best considered \u2062as ancillary and preparatory to President Trump\u2019s efforts \u200dto get Congress and the vice president to take\u2063 action on what he\u200b viewed as outcome-determinative federal\u2064 election fraud. The courts have long recognized that acts that are performed within a continuum \u200dwith immune acts are also subject to immunity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Remember, for the\u2062 purposes \u200dof \u2064assessing the scope of immunity,\u2064 intent and\u200c veracity\/falsity are irrelevant. Your views \u200don whether President Trump\u2019s views on the election were accurate are\u2064 irrelevant. Your views on why President Trump did what he did \u2063are irrelevant. If the acts themselves\u2063 were presidential acts,\u2062 falling within the outer perimeter\u2064 of presidential responsibilities, they cannot form\u200c the basis for a criminal prosecution of President Trump, because presidential immunity applies.<\/p>\n<p>As a \u200bresult, since\u2063 the entire\u2063 indictment in the D.C. case against President Trump is predicated on acts like \u2064these that he is immune \u200cfrom prosecution\u200d for, the \u200ccase should be dismissed.<\/p>\n<h2>4. How Likely Is Appeal?<\/h2>\n<p>Lastly, one\u2064 final note on timing: Any\u200b denial of this\u200b motion to dismiss, or any similar motion in\u200c Georgia, is likely immediately\u200b appealable, as is \u2063the case in where \u200ccongressional legislative immunity is implicated. This means, depending on how long it takes Judge Chutkan to rule, this issue could\u2064 be\u200d before the D.C. Circuit and potentially the Supreme \u200bCourt before long.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, an immunity argument like this\u2062 one compels a stay of all proceedings, as would be the case in\u200d almost any action where immunity forms a potential basis\u200b for the avoidance of trial.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How does the president&#8217;s duty to \u200censure \u200bthe\u200c integrity and legitimacy\u200d of the electoral process intersect \u2062with Congress&#8217; consideration of objections and challenges?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  S to consider potential objections or challenges to the certification of Electoral College results.<\/strong> As the motion argues, this is within the president\u2019s duty to ensure the integrity and legitimacy of\u2064 the electoral process. Allowing \u2062Congress to consider objections and challenges is an important\u2063 aspect of this responsibility, and\u2063 therefore falls within the outer perimeter of the president\u2019s official duties. The fact that these steps\u2063 were \u200ctaken in the context of his disagreement with the\u200c outcome of the election does not change this analysis.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>4. Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>In conclusion, President Trump\u2019s motion to dismiss the case against him in D.C. on the basis of presidential immunity\u2064 is a strong legal\u2064 argument. The immunity\u200c that presidents enjoy, even after leaving office, for acts within \u2063the outer perimeter \u2062of their official responsibilities is well-established and \u2063supported by Supreme Court precedent,\u2064 constitutional\u2063 language, and historical\u200c practice. The alleged \u2064acts in this case clearly fall within\u2062 the outer perimeter of President Trump\u2019s official responsibilities as president, and therefore he should be immune from \u2063prosecution for\u2062 them. This immunity is important \u2064to preserve the functioning of government and enable\u2064 presidents to fulfill their\u2062 duties without fear of \u200clegal consequences once \u2064their terms expire. As\u200d the case proceeds, it will be interesting to see how the courts analyze \u200dand interpret the scope of presidential immunity,\u2063 and whether they ultimately uphold or reject President\u200b Trump\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, ex-President Donald Trump filed a motion in a D.C. federal court to dismiss the case against him. He claims presidential immunity as a reason to dismiss the entire case, arguing convincingly in his motion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2124,"featured_media":2057573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2057572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2057573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}