 Views & Opinions |
Views & Opinions |
|
|
A question of jurisdiction | There's only one question we should be asking regarding the latest indictment against former President Trump, write former federal prosecutors Katie and Andrew Cherkasky: Is this prosecution constitutionally permissible in the first place? "Put simply," they write, "If there is no jurisdiction, there's no case." |
"The question of criminal jurisdiction in a federal court for a case involving acts of a then-sitting president is legally a question of first impression. It has long been thought that the president enjoys immunity for his acts while in office — at least for those acts connected with his official duties. The Department of Justice has historically agreed with this and has repeatedly endorsed the position that they cannot indict a sitting president." Impeachment, the authors write, is the sole constitutional remedy for the commission of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by a president. That's already been tried in this case. Some have argued that a president has only "qualified immunity"— that only acts connected to the furtherance of his official duties are immune from prosecution. But the Cherkaskys argue that a case could be made that almost everything a president does is related to his official duties. Put simply, the government needs to establish "that the acts in the indictment fall outside the scope of the president's official duties." "That will be tough for prosecutors." "It is not inconsistent to condemn Trump's behavior while taking a strong position that the federal courts have no jurisdiction to prosecute him — or any president — for such," they conclude. "This position is one about the sanctity of our system of justice, not merely a factual defense of Donald Trump himself." Read the op-ed at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Views & Opinions newsletter, it's Friday, August 4. I'm Daniel Allott, bringing together a collection of key opinion pieces published from a wide range of voices. |
|
|
Op-eds exploring key issues affecting the U.S. and world: |
|
|
By Mark P. Jones, co-author of Texas Politics Today |
When Republicans need to mobilize the GOP base, boost their support among November voters, sow division within the Democratic Party or deflect attention from a negative topic or event, their go-to issues in recent years often have been border security and immigration. As long as they avoid overtly racist and dehumanizing rhetoric and actions, border security and immigration are generally a winning issue for Republican federal and state-level candidates. |
| |
|
By Philip Allen Lacovara, former deputy solicitor general of the United States |
The latest indictment contains only four counts, but they are among the most important types of crimes that can be charged against anyone: directly attacking the orderly transfer of national power and sabotaging the country's belief in the integrity of its fundamental institutions. |
| |
|
By Andrew Selepak, social media professor at the University of Florida |
In essence, Threads is just one more example of Meta attempting to replicate what someone else has made rather than creating something new. Remember when Instagram added Stories to compete with Snapchat, Reels to compete with TikTok and IGTV to compete with YouTube? Facebook has a similar history of failed copycat features. |
| |
|
By James D. Zirin, former federal prosecutor |
I have no brief for Hunter Biden. From what I have read, he is hardly a pillar of the community. But, despite the drumroll of innuendo, I have seen no evidence that his father, President Joe Biden, was involved in any of his business dealings with Ukraine or China, and I have seen no evidence that he received a "sweetheart deal" to end the criminal tax and gun possession case against him. |
| |
|
Opinions related to pivotal issues and figures in the news: |
|
|
You're all caught up. See you next time! |
Views expressed by contributors are theirs and not the opinion of The Hill. Interested in submitting an op-ed? Click here. |
1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 |
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely unsubscribe.
No comments:
Post a Comment