A legal expert tells Newsweek that conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s questioning of a Trump lawyer “boxed” him in and could pave the way for a trial.
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s questioning of former President Donald Trump’s lawyer pertaining to immunity claims could allow the former president’s election fraud criminal case to proceed as intended, a legal expert tells Newsweek.
Barrett, who was one of three Supreme Court judges, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by Trump between 2017 and 2021, asked Trump lawyer John Sauer on Thursday morning about the differentiation between private and officials acts as laid out in DOJ special counsel Jack Smith’s allegations against the ex-president.
The Court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, is hearing oral arguments in Trump’s claim to presidential immunity from prosecution for alleged fraud related to the 2020 presidential election and events thereafter. The presumptive Republican candidate for president was indicted on four counts for allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election, leading to the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. He denies the charges.
“So, you concede that private acts don’t get immunity?” Barrett asked Sauer, to which he replied, “We do.”
Barrett then referred to pages 46 and 47 of Smith’s brief in the case.
“[Smith] urges us even if we were to decide or assume that there was some sort of immunity for official acts, that there were sufficient private acts in the indictment for the case to go back and the trial to begin immediately,” Barrett said.
