Ty Cobb, Donald Trump's former White House lawyer, was among a group of 13 former prosecutors, constitutional lawyers and elected and government officials to sign a Supreme Court brief supporting Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump on the argument of presidential immunity.
Cobb served as Trump's special counsel for two years. He was joined in signing the brief by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, along with Bill Kristol, who served as Chief of Staff under Vice President Dan Quayle.
The nation's highest court will hear oral arguments on the presidential immunity debate April 25 as part of Trump's aim to dismiss Smith's 2020 election obstruction case into the former president, where the Republican has pleaded not guilty to four federal charges.
The brief's preparation was led by Seth Waxman, a former U.S. Solicitor General. Conservative anti-Trump lawyer and legal analyst George Conway also signed the "friends of the court" brief.
The key arguments of the amicus brief are: The Constitution does not endow former presidents with immunity from criminal prosecution. And, in addition, even if former presidents had some limited immunity against criminal prosecution for certain official acts, it could not conceivably reach the acts alleged here.
The brief states that Trump's immunity claims are "inconsistent with our Constitution and would subvert the bedrock principle that no person is above the law."
It also urges the Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which upheld the ruling by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal trial into the former president's alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and the events that led up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email, and to Cobb through his LinkedIn page, Monday afternoon for comment.
Fred Wertheimer, President of Democracy 21 Education Fund, also helped prepare the brief.
"There is no basis for the Court to take a different approach in this case," Wertheimer said in a Democracy 21 press release. "The Court should, as they did in the Colorado case last month, issue its opinion no more than 25 days after the April 25 oral argument – by May 20. For the Court to wait to issue its decision until June, would delay the trial and seriously jeopardize the ability of citizens to know before they voted whether Trump is found guilty in this criminal case."
Trump faces 91 felony charges across four criminal cases. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and has frequently accused the state and federal investigations of being politically motivated "witch hunts" that aim to hinder his chances of winning the 2024 election.
The federal trial into Trump's alleged criminal attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and the events that led up to the January 6 attack could be further delayed for several months pending the Supreme Court's ruling on the immunity argument.
A number of legal experts have suggested the Supreme Court will ultimately reject Trump's argument that he can still cite absolute immunity for conduct committed in the White House, despite no longer being in office.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Gabe Whisnant is Deputy Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in South Carolina. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, he directed ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
