Justice Sonia Sotomayor used Thursday’s Supreme Court hearing of Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claims to further Democrats’ debunked “fake electors” narrative.
The moment came during the high court’s questioning of Trump lawyer John Sauer, who argued that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictments against Trump should be dismissed because presidents are granted lifelong immunity from criminal prosecutions and therefore cannot be charged for actions they took while in office that fall within the scope of their official duties as president. Citing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Smith indicted Trump in August over his speech questioning the administration of the 2020 election.
In Thursday’s hearing, justices probed Sauer on hypotheticals and whether immunity could be granted to a president who, for example, uses the military to target his political opponents. Justice Samuel Alito discussed the issue of viewing such actions through an objective lens and noted that “one could say it’s not plausible … that that action would be legal.”
“I’m sure you’ve thought of lots of hypotheticals where a president could say, ‘I’m using an official power,’ and yet the president uses it in an absolutely outrageous manner,” Alito said. Sauer responded, “That, if it were an objective determination, may well be an interesting approach to take.”
Sotomayor then interjected, asking Sauer to apply such an approach to the allegations against Trump and repeating the baseless claim that the Republican electors who cast their votes for Trump ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, are “fake.”
“What is plausible
