More than a dozen retired four-star generals, admirals and other former military leaders filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court on Monday arguing against former President Trump’s claims of immunity in his criminal cases.
The group said Trump’s claims “will threaten the military’s role in American society, our nation’s constitutional order, and our national security” and will have a “profoundly negative impact on service members.”
The former president’s lawyers argued that charges against Trump related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol should be dismissed because he was acting as president at the time. Prosecutors slammed the idea as “new and sweeping” allegations.
Signatories to the document include former CIA Director Michael Hayden, retired Adm. Tad Allen and retired Gen. George Casey, Carlton Fulford, Craig McKinley and Charles Krulak.
The group argued that granting Trump immunity from criminal claims could open the door to future executive branch interference in the country’s elections and could put national security at risk.
“The idea of such immunity, both as a general matter and specifically in the context of the potential denial of election results, threatens to jeopardize our nation’s security and international leadership,” the brief said. “Especially in times like the present, when anti-democratic, authoritarian regimes are on the rise around the world, such a threat is intolerable and dangerous.”
The group also wrote that if the court agrees with Trump’s argument, it would destroy the relationship between the commander-in-chief and the military because the president would not have to follow the law while the military still would.
The situation could result in “creating the likelihood that service members will be placed in the impossible position of having to choose between following their commander in chief and obeying laws passed by Congress,” the brief said.
There is also a risk to national security, the group argues, with challenges to a peaceful transition of power putting the entire country at risk at a time already ripe for a strike by foreign powers.
“Foreign countries are also closely watching US elections, and internal conflicts on US soil – particularly conflicts related to peaceful transitions of power – only embolden our foreign adversaries,” the briefing said.
Presidential immunity would “inexorably drive deep divisions between the political and military leaders of the armed forces and put servicemen and women in the impossible position of either ignoring presidential orders they are sworn to obey or committing crimes at the president’s behest in a violation of their oath — for which they can be prosecuted,” the group added.
The former officers also argued that any change in the acceptance of immunity could undermine public confidence in the military as an institution.
The Supreme Court is due to begin arguments on the immunity claims on April 25, with the landmark decision likely to be handed down by the end of June or sooner.
The trial in Trump’s federal election tampering case was set to begin in early March, but the proceedings are currently frozen while the Supreme Court weighs the immunity challenge. Several critics of the former president, the presumptive GOP nominee, argued that his insistence on immunity was another way to delay his trial until the November election.
Trump faces four felony counts charging him with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors say he was at the center of a campaign to block the certification of votes for President Biden that day.
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