WASHINGTON (AP) — On the left and right, Supreme Court justices seem to agree on a basic truth about the American system of government: No one is above the law, not even the president.
“The law applies equally to all persons, including a person who happens for a period of time to occupy the Presidency,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in 2020.
Less than a year earlier, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, then a federal trial judge, wrote, “Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings.”
But former President Donald Trump and his legal team are putting that foundational belief to the test on Thursday when the high court takes up Trump’s bid to avoid prosecution over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump’s lawyers argue that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity for their official acts. Otherwise, they say, politically motivated prosecutions of former occupants of the Oval Office would become routine and presidents couldn’t function as the commander-in-chief if they had to worry about criminal charges.
A portrait by Gustav Klimt has been sold for $32 million at an auction in Vienna
Tāngarākau Gorge road to remain closed until mid
Snake entangled in fridge ice dispenser spotted by resident who thought hissing was air compressor
Chocolate: Cocoa price hits record high as El Niño hurts crops
Tesla driver in deadly Seattle
Egypt aborts controversial pyramid renovation plan
Oscars 2024: Barbie's Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie miss key nominations
Cuts and closures in New Zealand's news media industry: What you need to know
Giants place pitcher Blake Snell on 15
Hope new research will help get answers for those with rare disorders
Biden signs a $95 billion war aid measure with assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
EDITORIAL: Sex offender checks must protect children, human rights