Is President Trump Immune From Prosecution?

We the People

National Constitution Center

History, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

This week the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Trump v. United States, a case that asks whether the former president is immune from criminal prosecution for conduct that occurred during his tenure in office. In this episode, Professor John Yoo of Berkeley Law School and Smita Ghosh of the Constitutional Accountability Center join Jeffrey Rosen to preview the arguments in the case, review the founders’ views on executive immunity, and discuss how the Court might decide this crucial case. Resources: Trump v. United States (oral argument via C-SPAN; transcript) Constitutional Accountability Center, Smita Ghosh, et al, Brief of Scholars of Constitutional Law in Support of Respondents, Trump v. United States Smita Ghosh, “The Founding Fathers Didn’t Think Trump Should Get Immunity Either,” Newsweek, Feb 8, 2024 John Yoo, “The Trump Immunity Case is Weak—But He Doesn’t Need it to Prevail,” Newsweek, Mar 6, 2024 Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) Blassingame v. Trump (D.C. Cir. 2023) Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected].  Continue today’s conversation on social media @ConstitutionCtr and #WeThePeoplePodcast Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.  You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Supreme Court this week heard arguments in Trump v United States, a case which asks whether the former president enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, for conduct alleged to involve official acts while he was in office.
0:13.7	Hello friends, I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution
0:20.8	Center and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:25.0	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:34.7	In this episode we'll discuss the founder's views on executive immunity, the text of the impeachment,
0:39.6	judgment, clause, and more.
0:42.1	Joining me to guide this important discussion
0:44.3	are two leading constitutional scholars.
0:46.9	John Yu is the Emmanuel Heller Professor of Law
0:49.3	at the University of California at Berkeley.
0:51.5	He's also non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise
0:54.3	Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. His 10th book,
0:58.3	Defender-in-Chief Trump's Fight for Presidential Power, was published by St Martin's Press in 2020.
1:04.0	John, it's wonderful to welcome you back to We The People.
1:07.0	Jeff, it's great to be back, and the worst thing about this podcast is I can't actually be in Philadelphia with you where I belong and where I grew up.
1:14.8	We love your plugs for Philly and you're always welcome back at the center and on the
1:20.0	podcast.
1:21.3	And Smita Gosh is an appellate counsel at the Constitutional Accountability
1:24.8	Center. She served as a Supreme Court fellow at the US Sentencing Commission and a
1:28.9	law clerk for Judge Victor Bolden on the US District Court for the District of Connecticut.
1:34.0	Smita joined in the brief of the Scholars of Constitutional Law in support of the respondent.
1:39.8	Smita, it is wonderful to welcome you to We The People.
	...

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