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.
Missouri's GOP lawmakers vote to kick Planned Parenthood off Medicaid
CMG to host major art exhibition in Paris featuring over 200 works
Jingzhou: a gateway to the fascinating history of Chu culture
Aaron Judge homers 1 pitch after Joe Boyle is called for a balk as Yanks top A's 7
Cubs rookie Michael Busch homers in 5th consecutive game to equal club record
Enjoy winter sports at foot of Great Wall in Shanxi
Indiana limits abortion data for privacy under near
Biden administration is announcing plans for up to 12 lease sales for offshore wind energy
Liu refreshes men's 102kg world records at IWF World Cup
World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza will be honored at memorial
Ancient tea embraces new flavor