A federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of , rejecting the former president鈥檚 claims that he is .
The decision marks the second time in as many months that judges have spurned and held that he can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when stormed the U.S. Capitol. But it also sets the stage for additional appeals from the Republican ex-president that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial was originally set for March, and the judge didn鈥檛 immediately set a new date.
鈥淲e conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation,鈥� the judges wrote.
The trial date carries enormous political ramifications, with the Republican primary front-runner hoping to delay it until after the November election. If Trump defeats President Joe Biden, he could presumably try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases or he potentially could seek a pardon for himself.
The appeals court took center stage in the immunity dispute after last month said it was at least temporarily staying out of it, rejecting a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up the matter quickly and issue a speedy ruling.
The legally untested question before the court was whether former presidents can be prosecuted after they leave office for actions taken in the White House related to their official duties.
The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Trump鈥檚 lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to as well.
They said the actions Trump was accused of in his failed bid to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Biden, including badgering his vice president to refuse to certify the results of the election, all fell within the 鈥渙uter perimeters鈥� of a president鈥檚 official acts.
But Smith鈥檚 team has said that no such immunity exists in the U.S. Constitution or in prior cases and that, in any event, Trump鈥檚 actions weren鈥檛 part of his official duties.
U.S. District Judge , who is presiding over the case, rejected Trump鈥檚 arguments in that said the office of the president 鈥渄oes not confer a lifelong 鈥榞et-out-of-jail-free鈥� pass.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 lawyers then appealed to the D.C. appeals court, but Smith asked the Supreme Court to weigh in first, in hopes of securing a fast and definitive ruling and preserving the March 4 trial date. The high court declined the request, leaving the matter with the appeals court.
The case was argued before Judges Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs, appointees of Biden, a Democrat, and Karen LeCraft Henderson, who was named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. The judges made clear their skepticism of Trump鈥檚 claims during arguments last month, when they peppered his lawyer with tough questions and posed a series of extreme hypotheticals as a way to test his legal theory of immunity 鈥� including whether a president who directed Navy commandos to assassinate a political rival could be prosecuted.
Trump鈥檚 lawyer, D. John Sauer, answered yes 鈥� but only if a president had first been impeached and convicted by Congress. That view was in keeping with the team鈥檚 position that the Constitution did not permit the prosecution of ex-presidents who had been impeached but then acquitted, like Trump.
The case in Washington is one of Trump faces as he seeks to reclaim the White House this year. He faces federal charges in Florida that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a case that was also brought by Smith and is set for trial in May. He鈥檚 also charged in state court in Georgia with scheming to subvert that state鈥檚 2020 election and in New York in connection with hush money payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He has denied any wrongdoing.
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