Trump v. United States

Case Analysis

In sorting out the novel question in this case, we can look to a handful of authorities for guidance. For example, the Court in Nixon v. Fitzgerald ruled that a President enjoys absolute immunity from civil damages for acts within the “outer perimeter” of his duties of office. 457 U.S. 731 (1982). The Court said that absolute immunity would ensure that the threat of civil suits would not “distract a President from his public duties, to the detriment of not only the President and his office but also the Nation that the Presidency was designed to serve.” 

At the same time, the Department of Justice has long held the position that a sitting President enjoys absolute immunity from criminal prosecution while in office. In a 2000 memo, the department wrote that “indicting and prosecuting a sitting President would ‘prevent the executive from accomplishing its constitutional functions,’ and that this impact cannot ‘be justified by an overriding need’ to promote countervailing and legitimate government objectives.” 

Most recently, in 2020, in Trump v. Vance, 140 S. Ct. 2412, the Court rejected then-President Trump’s claim that a sitting President was absolutely immune from state criminal processes short of indictment and prosecution (in that case, a state prosecutor’s subpoena to a third party for the President’s personal papers). The Court wrote that the President failed to demonstrate any especial need for immunity (or even a heightened-need standard for the prosecutor) to fulfill his Article II duties, and that “the public interest in fair and effective law enforcement cuts in favor of comprehensive access to evidence.” 

But despite these authorities, the Court has never addressed whether a former President enjoys absolute immunity from criminal liability for acts within the “outer perimeter” of his duties of office. That’s what this case is all about. 

Trump argues first that “courts cannot sit in judgment directly over the President’s official acts, whether before or after he leaves office.” He says this has been the consistent understanding since 1803 in Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137. Trump quotes language in Marbury, saying that in matters where the President exercises discretion, the President’s “acts are only politically examinable.” As a result, Trump says the President’s official acts “can never be examinable by the courts.” He also points to the President’s absolute immunity from civil liability for official acts in Fitzgerald and claims that even more so “the courts cannot sit in criminal judgment over him and imprison him based on official acts.” 

Trump contends that the Impeachment Judgment Clause reinforces this conclusion. He claims that the clause, by acknowledging that an impeached President “shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to law,” allows the President to be prosecuted only after impeachment (including impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate). He claims that the clause thus “reflects the Founders’ understanding” and operates as “a formidable structural check against politically motivated prosecutions by requiring a majority of the House and a supermajority of the Senate to authorize such dramatic action.” 

Trump also contends that “[t]he long history of not prosecuting Presidents for official acts, despite ample motive and opportunity to do so over the years,” is also consistent with his conclusion. Moreover, he claims that a lack of immunity and the resulting threat of prosecution after leaving office would deter currently serving Presidents from making the kind of “bold and unhesitating” decisions that Presidents must make. “That bleak scenario would result in a weak and hollow President, and would thus be ruinous for the American political system as a whole.” 

Trump argues next that, under separation-of-powers principles, the President is not subject to “generally applicable criminal laws” unless Congress specifically said so. Trump claims that this flows from the President’s unique place in our constitutional structure and Court precedent that holds that other, noncriminal law does not apply to the President unless the law contains a clear statement applying it to the President. Trump asserts that none of the criminal laws in his indictment specifically apply to the President; therefore, they don’t apply to his actions as President; and therefore, he cannot be prosecuted for violating them. 

Finally, Trump argues that the Court should dismiss the indictment. But if it doesn’t, he says that “the Court should be guided by four considerations.” First, Trump claims that “the scope of immunity should extend to the ‘outer perimeter of a President’s official acts,’ and its protection should be absolute, not qualified.” Next, he asserts that the Court should remand the case for any “fact-based application” “if the Court determines that immunity exists but requires fact-based application.” Third, “if the Court adopts a form of qualified immunity, which it should not do,” the Court should apply that immunity to the “extraordinarily, and almost completely, broad” range of the President’s official duties in a way that would immunize a former President for all but the most obvious violations of law. Finally, “the Court should reject the D.C. Circuit’s alternative approach of denying a President criminal immunity when his conduct is allegedly motivated by the desire to remain in power unlawfully.” Trump says that this approach “risks creating the appearance of a gerrymandered ruling tailored to deprive only…Trump of immunity, while leaving all other Presidents untouched.”

The government counters that the President is subject to federal criminal law, just like everybody else, unless a President’s power under Article II “precludes the application” of that law. The government says that “[n]o presidential power at issue in this case entitles the President to claim immunity from the general federal criminal prohibitions supporting the charges.” Moreover, the government contends that “[t]he President’s constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them.”

The government argues that “[h]istory likewise refutes [Trump’s] claim.” It says that “[t]he Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability for official acts.” According to the government, that’s why President Richard M. Nixon accepted President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon: Nixon’s “acceptance…implied his and President Ford’s recognition that a former President was subject to prosecution.”

The government argues that a President’s immunity from civil liability in Fitzgerald doesn’t support Trump’s claim of immunity from criminal liability. It claims that Trump’s case “involves the far weightier interest in vindicating federal criminal law in a prosecution brought by the Executive Branch itself.” And it contends that unlike Fitzgerald’s concern “that a multiplicity of private civil actions would chill a President’s decisions, the same concerns are not present in the criminal context.” According to the government, that’s because the criminal system contains multiple “institutional checks to ensure evenhanded and impartial enforcement of the law.” (The government points to the fact that the government itself must bring a criminal charge, “a grand jury must find that an indictment is justified,” the government must meet a high burden of proof, and “due process protections… guard against politically motivated prosecutions.”)

The government asserts that Trump’s claim that federal criminal law does not apply against the President unless it specifically says so is “radical” and “unfounded.” According to the government, Trump’s position “would free the President from virtually all criminal law—even crimes such as bribery, murder, treason, and sedition.” Moreover, the government says that other “safeguards” in the criminal system adequately “protect legitimate presidential interests” and other constitutional values.

The government also asserts that Trump is wrong to claim that the President can only be prosecuted after impeachment. The government says that the plain text of the Impeachment Judgment Clause, its structure, and its history all “contradict [Trump’s] assertion that [it] makes Senate conviction a condition precedent to prosecution.” And it contends that the clause “expressly recognizes that former Presidents are subject to federal criminal prosecution”—a point Trump acknowledges—and therefore undermines Trump’s sweeping claim of absolute immunity. The government says that impeachment, as a political process, is very different than criminal prosecution, which is “based on facts and law, and is rigorously adjudicated in court.” “Adopting [Trump’s] position would thwart the ordinary application of criminal law simply because Congress, in administering the political process of impeachment, did not see fit to impeach or convict.”

The government also contends that Trump is wrong to argue that courts can’t review a President’s discretionary acts. The government says that the cases Trump relies upon relate to a sitting President, and therefore have “no application to criminal prosecution of a former President.” Moreover, it claims that the absence of prosecutions of former Presidents “does not reflect the understanding that Presidents are immune from criminal liability; it instead underscores the unprecedented nature of [Trump’s] alleged conduct.” The government asserts that Trump’s claims about common-law immunities “fare[] no better.” “The established rule for judges and prosecutors—that they may claim civil immunity for official acts but lack any corresponding criminal immunity—applies equally to former Presidents. By contrast, neither constitutional text nor historical practice supports applying anything akin to legislative immunity to Presidents.”

Finally, the government argues that even if the Court extends some form of immunity to former Presidents, that immunity “does not preclude trial on this indictment.” The government says that Trump’s alleged conduct—an attempt “to subvert an election”—“does not justify any form immunity.” Moreover, it claims that Trump’s private conduct (that is, alleged conduct that is not part of the President’s official acts) “is sufficient to support the charges,” even without considering his official acts. The government argues that the Court should therefore remand the case for trial, “with the district court to make evidentiary and instructional rulings in accordance with this Court’s decision.” Trump “could seek appellate review of those rulings, if necessary, following final judgment.”

Significance

This case raises one of the most important issues in our constitutional system: presidential accountability. The case raises the issue on two levels. First, and most obviously, the case asks whether the President can be held to account in our criminal system based on allegedly official acts while in office. On this level, the case tests a core commitment in a system of rule of law, the principle that no person is above the law. To get a small taste of why that’s important, consider just this one scenario: Trump’s counsel in the D.C. Circuit conceded that under Trump’s theory Trump would enjoy immunity even if, as President, he ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, unless Congress impeached him first. (And by the way, it’s easy to see how a President could evade this check. For example, if Congress can’t impeach a former President—a position held by many in Trump’s second impeachment—a President could simply commit a crime, and immediately resign.)

Second, the case asks whether the President can be held to account through our electoral system. After all, if a President were successful in thwarting the results of an election, and if he enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution for his efforts (as Trump claims here), he could remain in office indefinitely, despite his electoral loss. 

For these reasons, this case is one of the most important cases on the structure of our government that the Court has seen in decades, and maybe ever. Here’s how 15 leading historians of the Founding era put it in their amicus brief: 

The allegations against former President Trump go to the heart of the Founders’ concerns about executive power. The Framers specifically contemplated that a President might conspire with others to remain in power after the end of his term. This fear compelled them to carefully construct checks on presidential power…. The crime alleged here, a failure to respect the election of a new President, is the ultimate crime against the people, who are the basis of government.

And just to be clear: Trump’s legal claim of absolute immunity is novel and unprecedented; no other former President has made this claim in court. Trump says that’s because his prosecution is unprecedented, reflecting the fact that it’s unfounded. The government says that’s because no other President committed such patently illegal acts. In any event, the unprecedented nature of Trump’s claim may be why the lower courts so roundly rejected them. 

But the Court didn’t follow suit, at least not as directly as it might have, and at least not yet. The government initially sought Court review back in December 2023, “cert. before judgment,” before the D.C. Circuit ruled on the case. The Court declined to take it up. Then, after the D.C. Circuit ruled, the government opposed Trump’s application to stay that ruling. Again, the Court ruled against the government, ordering the lower courts to delay the trial until it ruled. The Court granted certiorari, specified the question presented, and set the case for oral argument on the last day for arguments this term. 

Even if the Court rejects Trump’s claim of absolute immunity (which seems likely), all this created significant delays in Trump’s trial. And more delays may come. The Court may not rule until late June (or even later), and its decision may require the district court to rule on additional issues before proceeding. For example, the Court’s ruling could require the district court to determine whether particular alleged behavior falls within the “outer perimeter” of the President’s duties. Or it could require the district court to apply some other form of immunity, like qualified immunity. This could take time. Moreover, when Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on absolute immunity, he also moved to dismiss it on other grounds, also raising important and novel issues that may take time to work through the courts. All this may push any trial back after the 2024 presidential election and, if Trump were elected, the transition. And that could allow a second-term President Trump to quash the case.

That’s likely Trump’s real strategy with this case, anyway.

This case raises one of the most important issues in our constitutional system: presidential accountability. The case raises the issue on two levels. First, and most obviously, the case asks whether the President can be held to account in our criminal system based on allegedly official acts while in office. On this level, the case tests a core commitment in a system of rule of law, the principle that no person is above the law. To get a small taste of why that’s important, consider just this one scenario: Trump’s counsel in the D.C. Circuit conceded that under Trump’s theory Trump would enjoy immunity even if, as President, he ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, unless Congress impeached him first. (And by the way, it’s easy to see how a President could evade this check. For example, if Congress can’t impeach a former President—a position held by many in Trump’s second impeachment—a President could simply commit a crime, and immediately resign.)

Second, the case asks whether the President can be held to account through our electoral system. After all, if a President were successful in thwarting the results of an election, and if he enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution for his efforts (as Trump claims here), he could remain in office indefinitely, despite his electoral loss. 

For these reasons, this case is one of the most important cases on the structure of our government that the Court has seen in decades, and maybe ever. Here’s how 15 leading historians of the Founding era put it in their amicus brief: 

The allegations against former President Trump go to the heart of the Founders’ concerns about executive power. The Framers specifically contemplated that a President might conspire with others to remain in power after the end of his term. This fear compelled them to carefully construct checks on presidential power…. The crime alleged here, a failure to respect the election of a new President, is the ultimate crime against the people, who are the basis of government.

And just to be clear: Trump’s legal claim of absolute immunity is novel and unprecedented; no other former President has made this claim in court. Trump says that’s because his prosecution is unprecedented, reflecting the fact that it’s unfounded. The government says that’s because no other President committed such patently illegal acts. In any event, the unprecedented nature of Trump’s claim may be why the lower courts so roundly rejected them. 

But the Court didn’t follow suit, at least not as directly as it might have, and at least not yet. The government initially sought Court review back in December 2023, “cert. before judgment,” before the D.C. Circuit ruled on the case. The Court declined to take it up. Then, after the D.C. Circuit ruled, the government opposed Trump’s application to stay that ruling. Again, the Court ruled against the government, ordering the lower courts to delay the trial until it ruled. The Court granted certiorari, specified the question presented, and set the case for oral argument on the last day for arguments this term. 

Even if the Court rejects Trump’s claim of absolute immunity (which seems likely), all this created significant delays in Trump’s trial. And more delays may come. The Court may not rule until late June (or even later), and its decision may require the district court to rule on additional issues before proceeding. For example, the Court’s ruling could require the district court to determine whether particular alleged behavior falls within the “outer perimeter” of the President’s duties. Or it could require the district court to apply some other form of immunity, like qualified immunity. This could take time. Moreover, when Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on absolute immunity, he also moved to dismiss it on other grounds, also raising important and novel issues that may take time to work through the courts. All this may push any trial back after the 2024 presidential election and, if Trump were elected, the transition. And that could allow a second-term President Trump to quash the case.

That’s likely Trump’s real strategy with this case, anyway.

Attorneys for the Parties

• For Petitioner Donald J. Trump (D. John Sauer,
  314.562.0031)
  
• For Respondent United States (Michael R. Dreeben,
  202.305.9654)
  

Amicus Briefs

• In Support of Petitioner Donald J. Trump
  Alabama and 17 Other States (Edmund Gerard LaCour
  Jr., 334.242.7300)
  
• America’s Future, Judicial Action Group, Gun Owners
  of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of
  California, Tennessee Firearms Association, Tennessee
  Firearms Foundation, U.S. Constitutional Rights Legal
  Defense Fund, and Conservative Legal Defense and
  Education Fund (William Jeffrey Olson, 703.356.5070)
  
• American Center for Law and Justice (Jay Alan Sekulow,
  202.546.8890)
  
• Christian Family Coalition (CFC) Florida, Inc., a
  Florida not-for-profit corporation (Dennis Grossman,
  516.466.6690)
  
• Condemned USA (George T. Pallas, 305.856.8580)
  Coolidge Reagan Foundation and Shaun McCutcheon
  (Dan Backer, 202.210.5431)
  
• Former Attorneys General Edwin Meese III and Michael
  B. Mukasey, Law Professors Steven Calabresi and Gary
  Lawson, and Citizens United (Gene Clayton Schaerr,
  202.787.1060)
  
• Gavin M. Wax, New York Young Republican Club, Inc.,
  National Constitutional Law Union, Inc., and Paul
  Ingrassia (Edward Andrew Paltzik, 516.526.0341)
  
• Kansas Republican Party and 17 Other State and
  Territorial Republican Parties (Craig Lee Uhrich,
  720.878.7688)
  
• Matthew D. Wilson (Matthew Daniel Wilson,
  662.260.6544)
• National Republican Senatorial Committee and
  Senator Steve Daines (Jonathan Philip Lienhard,
  540.341.8808)
  
• Ohio, Alaska, and Wyoming (David Anthony Yost,
  614.466.8980)
  Three Former Senior Military Officers and Executive
  Branch Officials (H. Christopher Bartolomucci,
  202.787.1060)
  
• U.S. Senator Roger Marshall and 26 Other Members of
  Congress (Judd Edward Stone II, 737.465.7248)
  United States Justice Foundation & Policy Issues
  Institute, Inc. (Chad Dustin Morgan, 951.667.1927)
  In Support of Respondent United States
  American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil
  Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (David D.
  Cole, 212.549.2611)
  
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
  (Jonathan Maier, 202.408.5565)
  
• Claire Finkelstein and 14 National Security
  Professionals (Richard W. Painter, 612.626.9707)
  Former Government Officials and Constitutional
  Lawyers (Seth P. Waxman, 202.663.6000)
  
• G. Antaeus B. Edelsohn (Joan Deborah B. Edelsohn,
  415.944.9509)
  
• Jeremy Bates (Jeremy C. Bates, 917.626.2473)
  John Danforth (Richard D. Berstein, 301.775.2064)
  Leadership Now Project (P. Benjamin Duke,
  212.841.1000)
  
• Professor Martin S. Lederman (Martin S. Lederman,
  202.662.9937)
  
• Public Citizen (Scott L. Nelson, 202.588.1000)
  Puerto Rico House of Representatives (Jorge Martinez
  Luciano, 787.999.2972)
  
• Retired Four-Star Admirals and Generals and Former
  Secretaries of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force
  (Kathleen R. Hartnett, 415.693.2000)
  Scholars of Constitutional Law (Brianne. J. Gorod,
  202.296.6889)
  
• Scholars of the Founding era (Lawernce S. Robbins,
  212.833.1118)
  Stephen R. McAllister and Scott Paul (Erik S. Jaffe,
  202.787.1060)

In Support of Neither Party

• Citizens Equal Rights Foundation (Lawrence A. Kogan,
  917.565.1521)
  
• David Boyle (David Christopher Boyle, 734.904.6132)
  Former United States Attorney General John D.
  Ashcroft and Constitutional Coalition (Mark Fernlund
  Hearne II, 314.296.4000)
  
• Former White House Chief of Staff Mark R. Meadows
  (George J. Terwilliger III, 202.255.0553)
  
• Guardian Defense Fund, Inc. (George Robinson Wentz
  Jr., 504.582.6998)