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1 1 (March 4, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveomz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ R fesearch Service Presidential Immunity, Criminal Liability, and the Impeachment Judgment Clause March 4, 2024 The President of the United States occupies a unique position in the American constitutional system as the head of the executive branch of government entrusted with supervisory and policy responsibilities of utmost discretion and sensitivity. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the President-at least when acting within the outer perimeter of his official duties-cannot be treated as an ordinary individual. While holding the nation's highest office does not place the President above the law, it does carry with it certain legal privileges. One such privilege is the doctrine of presidential immunity. Questions as to the scope of presidential immunity have featured prominently in Special Counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of former President Donald Trump for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In an argument that has been rejected by two courts, the former President asserts that presidential immunity shields him from criminal prosecution for the acts charged. This immunity, he argues, derives from both the separation of powers and the Impeachment Judgment Clause, which provides that the Party convicted by the Senate after having been impeached by the House shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment, and Punishment, according to Law. Former President Trump maintains that since he was acquitted by the Senate for conduct similar to the criminal acts charged by the Special Counsel, the Impeachment Judgment Clause bars his current criminal prosecution. On February 24, the Supreme Court agreed to take up the question of whether a former President possesses immunity from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. Oral arguments in the case are set for the week of April 22, 2024. This Sidebar briefly summarizes presidential immunity principles and discusses the two court decisions in United States v. TRump that considered and rejected former President Trump's asserted immunity from prosecution. The Sidebar also briefly addresses how Congress and the executive branch have viewed the Impeachment Judgment Clause and its relation, if any, to presidential immunity. Presidential Immunity The scope of immunity enjoyed by former and sitting Presidents is a topic of much uncertainty. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that presidential immunity is a legal doctrine with no explicit textual basis in Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB11121 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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