Here's how a Trump immunity win could blow up spectacularly in the Supreme Court's face
December 18, 2023
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments on whether Donald Trump should be immune from criminal acts — and then rules in the former president's favor — those same justices may one day rue the day they made that decision, an expert wrote Monday.
It's the opinion of University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Kim Wehle, who pointed out that the former president has a history of ignoring the court — and he would be completely unrestrained from obeying them in the future.
At issue in the filing brought to the court by special counsel Jack Smith is whether a president, by virtue of presidential immunity, is above the law.
A decision in Trump's favor by the predominantly conservative court, broadly read, would present a re-elected Trump with an ability to ignore that same court in the future should he find himself being challenged for policies or executive orders deemed by critics to be unconstitutional.
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As Wehle wrote for The Bulwark, "During his first term, Trump reportedly considered ignoring the Court’s 5–4 decision in a case involving whether the Commerce Department could include a question about citizenship on the U.S. Census form. Roberts wrote the majority opinion rejecting Trump’s attempt to confine the census to just citizens, and Trump called his ruling 'ridiculous.'"
According to the legal scholar, that should weigh heavily on the justices' minds when considering giving the once and possibly future president unlimited immunity.
"They will surely be asking themselves whether Trump, in a second administration, will heed the Court’s rulings or instead decide that he is the rule of law when it comes to judicial decisions as well as everything else." she wrote, before wryly adding, "We all know the answer to that question."
"In order to stay ostensibly relevant, conservatives on the court will accordingly have to band together and side with Trump in every case he cares about, or risk him simply declaring the court 'fake' and doing whatever it ruled he or his administration should not do," she predicted.
"Once that happens, the Court will lose whatever legitimacy it has left," she warned.
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