Trump wants justices to take his 2016 Clinton conspiracy appeal ‘to protect the Presidency’

Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit accusing Hillary Clinton and others of conspiring before the 2016 election to push a false story that his campaign colluded with Russia. MS NOW reports that his lawyers say the justices must step in "to protect the Presidency," even though Trump is suing as a private individual.

The case was thrown out by a district judge, who also ordered close to $1 million in sanctions against Trump, attorney Alina Habba and her firm. A conservative appeals panel upheld that outcome and described many of their legal arguments as frivolous. It relied on the 1997 decision in Clinton v. Jones, reasoning that a president who can be pulled into court as a defendant cannot be excused from suing to enforce his own rights. Trump's lawyers counter that being sued differs from suing, and that his first-term duties justified waiting. They also invoke the Court's 2024 criminal immunity ruling and want sanctions on a president barred.

Clinton and her co-defendants waived any response. If no justice asks for one, review is all but ruled out, and four votes are needed to grant it. Trump has similar pending petitions involving E.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →