Could a president stage a coup? And 9 more key moments from Trump's Supreme Court immunity hearing
As various Supreme Court justices themselves acknowledged during a high-stakes hearing on Thursday, they could potentially reshape the contours of presidential power when they rule on whether Donald Trump is entitled to some amount of immunity from prosecution for alleged acts in the White House as he pushed to overturn his 2020 election loss.Over nearly three hours on Thursday, with demonstrators gathered outside, the justices grappled with arguments from both Trump's attorney and an attorney for special counsel Jack Smith, who has charged Trump in connection with his effort to stay in office after losing to now-President Joe Biden.Trump denies all wrongdoing and disputes some of what he is accused of doing while he maintains that other actions were part of his presidential authority.The oral arguments included several notable and important exchanges.Here are 10 of the key moments.A decision is expected from the court by the end of June.Could a president assassinate his rival?Justices Sonia Sotomayor and then Samuel Alito touched on one of the most provocative hypotheticals raised in Trump's battle for "absolute immunity" from charges over what he claims were official acts: Could a commander in chief order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival and not face prosecution?Sotomayor raised it first while questioning Trump attorney John Sauer.
She pointed back to an earlier exchange Sauer had in a lower court proceeding."I'm going to give you a chance to say ...if you stay by it: The president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military, or orders someone, to assassinate him -- is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?" she asked."It would depend on the hypothetical," Sauer answered."We could see that could well be an official act."Sotomayor pressed on that point: "Immunity says even if you did it for personal gain, we won't hold you responsible -- what do you -- how could that be?"Sauer pointed back to a U.S.
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