Former Trump lawyer urges court to reject immunity claim: 'No person is above the law'

29 December 2023

Ty Cobb — who represented then-President Donald Trump during the Robert Mueller investigation — is now adding his name to a amicus brief urging the judiciary to reject his former boss' claim of absolute immunity.

The amicus brief (or "friend of the court" brief) submitted to the US District Court in the District of Columbia — where the former president's DC election interference trial is scheduled for March 4 — is sounding the alarm on Trump claiming he should be immune from all criminal accountability as a former president of the United States.

"[Signees] respectfully submit this brief to explain why the immunity defendant seeks in this case is inconsistent with our Constitution and would subvert the bedrock principle that no person is above the law," the brief reads.

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"Defendant’s position cannot be squared with the Constitution’s text or history," it adds. "He repeatedly invokes implied separation-of-powers principles, contending that the imposition of criminal liability on him would unduly impair the Executive Branch. But it is defendant’s claimed immunity — not his prosecution — that would undermine those principles."

In addition to Cobb, the names included on the amicus brief are a who's-who of Republican-aligned legal mavens. Among the signees include Bradford A. Berenson, who was a White House counsel in the George W. Bush administration, Gregory A. Brower — whom Bush appointed as the US Attorney for the District of Nevada in 2008 — former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-California), who is now a law professor at Chapman University and former Rep. Tom Coleman (R-Missouri), among others.

The question of whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution is currently in the hands of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, after the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rejected Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's bid to bypass the lower court. Should the DC Circuit rule against Trump, the former president could appeal to SCOTUS, where the Court would face a strict timeline of settling the matter prior to its current term ending in June of 2024.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the trial and has already rejected Trump's claims of absolute immunity, has paused all proceedings until the immunity question has been decided. The DC Circuit is set to hear oral arguments on January 8.

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