Becoz he woz prez at the time
Well at least one lawyer agrees that it’s grotesque to claim that presidents can crime with impunity because they were in theWhiteHouse at the time of the criming.
A pre-Christmas filing by Donald Trump‘s lawyers asking a federal appeals court to throw out the election subversion case against him is “ridiculous,” according to a Florida state attorney.
State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg said the filing arguing that Trump is immune from prosecution for actions that fell within his official presidential duties was about “delay.”
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The former president has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review [whether] he is immune from allegations [that] he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election because he was president when the offenses occurred. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had ruled at the beginning of December that Trump was not immune from the charges against him.
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In a filing late on December 23, Trump’s lawyers argued that a “president’s acts are not examinable by a judicial branch,” that proceedings against the former president are unconstitutional and that there is no set precedent.
Again, if it’s true that a president’s acts are not examinable by a judicial branch then presidents can commit any crimes they like and nobody can do anything about it. Presidents can all be Henry VIIIs and have their wives executed when they get tiresome.
“In his brief, [Trump] said that this is the only time in history a president has been charged for official acts,” Aronberg, a Democrat, argued. “He’s not being charged for official acts. He’s been charged for allegedly criminal acts… it’s a big difference. If he thinks he has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, the answer is no.”
He doesn’t think at all, he just throws stuff until someone stops him.
I’m pretty sure overthrowing an election and inciting an attack on Congress are not parts of presidential duties.
Not as confident as David Plotz on this one, but “losing every battle but winning the war” isn’t an unlikely outcome…
It depends on what is meant by “presidential acts”. Is an act presidential because a president did them or is an act presidential, because only a president has the authority to execute such an act.
My guess is that only “presidential acts” in that second meaning are immune. Like a president making a decision that later turns out to result in thousands of deaths.
But I am not a lawyer so just add the right amount of salt to the above.