'Shocking factual backdrop': Michael Cohen takes long shot Trump case to Supreme Court

Michael Cohen on Monday took his "unusual" case against former President Donald Trump to the nation's highest court, according to court records and reports.

Trump's former fixer demands the Supreme Court take up his appeal of his civil case contending the then-president had him thrown in jail because he had begun to write an unflattering book about his onetime client, court records show.

"A judge of [Manhattan federal court] found, as a matter of law, that the federal government returned Petitioner to prison in “retaliat[ion] . . . [for] [Petitioner’s] exercise [of] his First Amendment rights," the filing states. "This case features the most unusual circumstances."

The case centers on Cohen's prison sentence on Trump campaign finance violations interrupted by a stint of house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the filing states.

Cohen contends that he was returned to prison and thrown in solitary confinement because he refused to sign a waiver of his right to freedom of speech, and cites the Manhattan court judge who found the former fixer's imprisonment had been in retaliation, court documents show.

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MSNBC legal analyst Jordan Rubin wrote on Tuesday that Cohen's appeal is a long shot, despite what he describes as a "shocking factual backdrop," because of the nature of his "Bivens" claim.

"The problem for Cohen is that the justices have all but abandoned Bivens claims," Rubin wrote. "Justice Clarence Thomas noted in a 2022 decision that '[o]ver the past 42 years, however, we have declined 11 times to imply a similar cause of action for other alleged constitutional violations,' writing that the court will deny claims 'in all but the most unusual circumstances.'"

This is why Cohen is doubling down on his argument that his case is indeed unusual, Rubin wrote.

"If the justices do reject the appeal, Cohen argues in his latest brief, that will mean 'that the courts will not deter an Executive determined to incarcerate their critics,'" Rubin wrote.

"That statement would threaten the freedoms this country was founded to protect and upon which so many areas of American life depend.”