Trump cases thrust US courts into political fray
Washington, (AFP): The slew of criminal and civil cases facing former Republican president Donald Trump has thrust the judiciary into the uncomfortable position of being an arbiter in an election year in a white-hot political arena.
Trump is facing felony charges over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and his role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
He is also accused of mishandling top secret documents and faces state charges in New York for paying election-eve hush money to a porn star. And those are just the criminal cases.
Derek Muller, a law professor, noted that courts are “asked to decide tough questions all the time. But there’s no question it feels more acute when you’re dealing with these questions ahead of a presidential election, including questions that could be decisive such as whether or not the candidate gets to run in the first place.”
That is the question the US Supreme Court agreed to hear Friday, taking on an appeal by Trump of a ruling by Colorado’s top court that would keep him off the Republican primary ballot in the western state. The Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump from the ballot citing an amendment that bans anyone from holding public office if they engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” after once pledging to support and defend the Constitution.
Howell said the nine justices on the Supreme Court, three of whom were appointed by Trump, will certainly factor the political climate into their eventual ruling. The conservative-dominated Supreme Court may also have to weigh in on Trump’s claim that as a former president he enjoys “absolute immunity” from prosecution.
If Trump wins the November election, he could pardon himself or have the charges against him dismissed.
Trump’s legal woes do not appear to have dented his popularity among the Republican rank-andfile and he remains the overwhelming favorite to capture the party’s presidential nomination.
Trump has used the indictments to drum up political support. After he became the first expresident to have his mugshot taken -- in Georgia, where he is charged with racketeering -- Trump embraced the photo of him glaring at the camera as a fundraising tool.