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Government

Feb. 13, 2024

Upholding the rule of law

The D.C. Circuit ruled that a former president can be prosecuted for crimes committed in office and rejected Trump’s claim of absolute immunity for his efforts to undermine the 2020 election.

Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law

Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).

The ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in United States v. Trump, on Feb. 6, was a stunning affirmation of the rule of law. The significance of this historic decision should not get lost amidst the attention paid to the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments two days later in Trump v. Anderson. The D.C. Circuit’s ruling is the first time that a federal court of appeals has expressly held that a former president may be pros...

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