U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has denied a request to dismiss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment that alleges the former president sought to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The request, made by lawyers acting for Donald Trump, argued that the indictment criminalizes his free speech and thus violates the First Amendment. His lawyers asked Chutkan to recall former President Richard Nixon’s immunity from civil damages while in office, a 1982 Supreme Court decision that protected the president from litigation.
“Here, 234 years of unbroken historical practice—from 1789 until 2023— provide compelling evidence that the power to indict a former president for his official acts does not exist,” his lawyers argued.
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That argument failed to land. On Friday, Chutkan issued a scathing ruling that made one thing abundantly clear: Trump is not a king and he will face charges.
“Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,” Chutkan wrote in the ruling. “It is well established that the First Amendment does not protect speech that is used as an instrument of a crime.”
Chutkan harkened back to warnings issued by America’s first president, George Washington, who cautioned that “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” would take advantage of “all obstructions to the execution of the laws.”
“In this case, [Trump] is charged with attempting to usurp the reins of government as Washington forewarned,” Chutkan wrote.
The ruling is a blow to Trump’s efforts to avoid prosecution in the federal election interference case, which is set to go to trial in March.
Smith’s indictment charged Trump with four felonies related to his attempts to keep power after the 2020 election and leading up to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.
“The defendant stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes,” Smith argued earlier this month, rebuking Trump’s immunity claim. “No other president has engaged in conspiracy and obstruction to overturn valid election results and illegitimately retain power.”
