Hiku said:
Zucas said:
AS to the part about a sitting president cant be indicted, that is not entirely true. Actually Clinton tried to make this defense in the Paula Jones case and the Supreme Court explicitly stated that not even the President is above the law and could still be dragged into court. Instead, what is going on here, is the Justice Department has a policy that they will not indict a sitting president as to not have the President distracted from his duties to defend himself in court.
But this policy has never been tested, tbh. It brings about an interesting legal question, and a constitutional crisis likened to that in the Nixon administration. However, it is important to note this is a prosecutorial discretion moment, not a constitutional one. As far as the Constitution and the Supreme Court is concerned, a US president is not above the law and can be indicted by a federal prosecutor and brought before a court.
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That is interesting. I didn't know the origin of that claim, but I saw it mentioned in many places.
I guess it's more like, it's unlikely for the Justice Department to indict a sitting president. But then I guess it would come down to the severity of the charges?
And who would be the one to make this decision? Jeff Sessions? But he recused himself from matters involving the Russia investigation, and I'm not sure if this case counts.
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I mean for the most part it is accurate and I think it is highly unlikely the Justice Department would ever want to indict a president. But again, this hasn't been tested because usually the president isn't in this situation. That's why I think it comes down to the severity of the crime. As to who makes the decision, I'm not even sure the Justice Department knows that answer. If I was an attorney with the Justice Department right now, I wouldn't want to make that call. As of right now, the federal prosecutor at the Southern District of New York can make that call as it was their case with Cohen. But again, this will come down to a lot more internal discussion than just this person's decision.
I would love to write some law and policy about this matter to help guide the Justice Department haha. But they will likely take the safer route and see if impeachment proceedings occur. The political process is there for a reason I suppose.
