Alan Rozenshtein Says the Slope Isn’t That Slippery
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday heard oral arguments in the case of Blassingame v. Trump, an appeal from a civil lawsuit against the former president over Jan. 6. The question before the appeals court is: Does a president have immunity from lawsuit even when he's accused of stirring up a mob against a coordinate branch of government engaged in a function constitutionally entrusted to it? The judges seemed skeptical of the former president's argument, which was a bit of a surprise given the composition of the panel.
To chew it all over, Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare senior editor and University of Minnesota Law School professor Alan Rozenshtein, who followed the oral arguments and live tweeted them. They talked about the case that gave rise to the arguments, how it played out at the lower court, and what the Supreme Court might do when it confronts this question down the road.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
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| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | There's no enumerated power within Article 2, as Judge Katzus noted, |
| 0:39.0 | for Trump's conduct. |
| 0:41.0 | Civil immunity is totally a judge-created doctrine using the same sort of free-flowing structural reasoning |
| 0:47.0 | that I think puts a lot of the conservatives, you know, |
| 0:51.0 | conservative justices teeth on edge. |
| 0:53.0 | And so, you know, I could imagine a kind of coalition among five or more of the justices, |
| 0:58.0 | especially if they do up a very narrow ruling. |
| 1:02.0 | I'm Benjamin Widis and this is the LawFair podcast December 9, 2022. |
| 1:08.0 | The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, |
| 1:12.0 | heard oral arguments in the case of blasting them versus Trump, |
| 1:17.0 | an appeal from a civil lawsuit against the former president over January 6. |
| 1:23.0 | The question before the appeals court does a president have immunity from lawsuit, |
| 1:30.0 | even when he's accused of stirring up a mob against a coordinate branch of government |
| 1:37.0 | engaged in a function constitutionally entrusted to it. |
| 1:42.0 | The judges seemed skeptical of the former president's argument, |
| 1:46.0 | which was a bit of a surprise given the composition of the panel, |
... |
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