Comment on Supreme Court ruling on Trump immunity could alter impeachment

Michael Macagnone | CQ-Roll Call (TNS) WASHINGTON — How the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity in former President Donald Trump’s effort to jettison his federal charges could have some collateral damage: Congress’ impeachment power. At oral arguments in the case Thursday, Trump attorney D. John Sauer told the justices that the nation’s founders decided impeachment was the check on a president’s behavior in office — and not criminal prosecution. But several justices and outside experts said Sauer’s arguments, taken together, laid out a diminished version of impeachment power, which normally allows Congress to remove a federal officer for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. That rarely invoked power, used about two dozen times in the nation’s history, should instead have special rules for presidents, Sauer said. Sauer told the justices that presidents could only face criminal charges once they are impeached and convicted in the Senate.