A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday morning that former President Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution from the federal government, an outcome that will allow Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6 case against the 45th president to move forward, pending any subsequent (and expected) appeal to the Supreme Court.
BREAKING: A federal appeals court in Washington found Donald Trump is not entitled to broad immunity from federal prosecution, a landmark decision that would allow the criminal case against him involving the 2020 presidential election to move forward if the ruling is upheld. pic.twitter.com/Idd6zZR4B4
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 6, 2024
The federal appeals court, in its 57-page ruling, found that "[f]or the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant...[b]ut any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution."
More from the three-judge panel for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in its order affirming a previous district court ruling that Trump lacked immunity from federal prosecution:
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. See Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. at 747–48. 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.
Notably, this outcome was expected both by case watchers and by the special counsel handling the government's cases against the former president. Smith had previously requested jumping the line of appeals courts to put the matter directly to the Supreme Court in order to keep his planned trial start date on schedule. SCOTUS rejected his wishes to skip lower appeals courts and Smith's hopes of starting the J6 trial just before Super Tuesday in March were derailed.
In a 57-page opinion, the D.C. Circuit has rejected, as expected, former President Donald Trump's sweeping immunity claim. Many of us anticipated this result. Here is the opinion https://t.co/w3Uo1jfJJz
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 6, 2024
The question of the 45th president's immunity is set to head next to the United States Supreme Court. This week, the high court is set to hear oral arguments in another Trump-related case dealing with the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to bar the former president from the Centennial State's primary ballot.
In a statement released after the court's decision, Trump 2024 campaign spokesman Steven Cheung warned that "[i]f immunity is not granted to a President, every future President who leaves office will be immediately indicted by the opposing party. Without complete immunity, a President of the United States would not be able to properly function!"
Cheung said "[d]eranged Jack Smith's prosecution of President Trump for his Presidential, official acts is unconstitutional under the doctrine of Presidential Immunity and the Separation of Powers. Prosecuting a President for official acts violates the Constitution and threatens the bedrock of our Republic," the statement continued. "President Trump respectfully disagrees with the DC Circuit's decision and will appeal it in order to safeguard the Presidency and the Constitution."
This is a developing story and may be updated.