MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin praised U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett over her “incisive” questioning in the presidential immunity and Idaho abortion cases.
The court ruled in favor of President Joe Biden’s administration by reinstating limits on Idaho’s near-total abortion ban that requires doctors to perform an abortion in emergency cases under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). The state law bans all abortions except for those deemed necessary to save the life of the mother and in the case of rape and incest.
Rubin praised Barrett’s questioning in the oral arguments for Trump v. United States, which will determine whether the former president is immune from prosecution for actions taken while he served in office.
“And one of the things I was struck by is Justice Barrett’s questions in that case because she got Trump’s lawyer admit that even for all their arguments that he should be immune in this case, there is a small window of cases for which a president could still be prosecuted for his official acts, and those are if he’s impeached, if he’s convicted and if the statute has a clear statement that it applies to the president, then the lawyer admitted it could apply to the president if he’s prosecuted. That’s a big admission. That’s the former president’s lawyer admitting even in the sphere of official acts, there are some for which he could be prosecuted.”
MSNBC legal analyst praises Amy Coney Barrett ahead of presidential immunity case pic.twitter.com/7VKPc7ERZl
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 27, 2024
“Justice Barrett is a very incisive questioner for a reason to the extent if there’s anything to praise about her EMTALA decision, it’s that she really tried to narrow the disagreement between the two and there, she’s the vote that I’m looking in that presidential immunity decision. What’s she gonna do?” she continued. (RELATED: ‘Everyone Relax’: CNN’s Elie Honig Dumps Cold Water On Narrative Of SCOTUS Dragging Feet In Trump Case)
Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting Trump with four counts of engaging in conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021. The former president’s legal team has argued he is immune from prosecution in this case since he still served as the Commander-in-Chief during the time of his alleged crimes.
Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, suggested sending the case back to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which could delay the trial until after the election.
