NYU Law Professor Ryan Goodman was a guest on CNN’s Out Front last night, where he addressed former President Donald Trump‘s request that the U.S. Supreme Court rule that he is absolutely immune from criminal charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Goodman, who was special counsel to the general counsel of the United States Department of Defense (2015-16) and now serves as a member of the US Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, asserts that Trump’s lawyers misused the work of SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh to back their argument.
1/ Holy backfire
On left:
Trump brief to Supreme Court citing Kavanaugh’s writing on POTUS immunity from criminal prosecution
On right:
What Kavanaugh actually said, which is a FORMER President is NOT immune
On @OutFrontCNN, I discussed how misciting Kavanaugh may backfire pic.twitter.com/MFBjIa4u1i
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) March 20, 2024
On X, Goodman provided an image of a brief provided to the Supreme Court by Trump’s attorneys, and wrote: “1/ Holy backfire On left: Trump brief to Supreme Court citing Kavanaugh’s writing on POTUS immunity from criminal prosecution On right: What Kavanaugh actually said, which is a FORMER President is NOT immune.”
Goodman warned the defendant’s legal team: “misciting Kavanaugh may backfire.” (Trump appointed Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018.)
2/ Here’s my discussion with @ErinBurnett on how Trump’s brief to Supreme Court on presidential immunity might be smart to cite Justice Kavanaugh’s prior writing – but not if it takes his writing out of context.
Kavanaugh wrote a former president is not immune from prosecution pic.twitter.com/TDNtiH3rtH
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) March 20, 2024
Goodman argues: “Trump’s brief to Supreme Court on presidential immunity might be smart to cite Justice Kavanaugh’s prior writing – but not if it takes his writing out of context. Kavanaugh wrote a former president is not immune from prosecution.”
Trump’s lawyers quote Kavanaugh saying that a president can’t function properly under the threat of an “ongoing criminal prosecution” and they argue the same applies if a future prosecution is “waiting in the wings until he leaves office.”
The Kavanaugh quote Goodman highlights reads: “The point is not to put the President above the law or to eliminate checks on the President, but simply to defer litigation until the President is out of office.”
Note: The SCOTUS will hear arguments on April 25 over whether former presidents can be prosecuted for things they did while in office.