Amicus Brief Filed in US v. Trump Case
This amicus brief was filed by members of Checks & Balances on October 23, 2023 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
In the matter of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, the brief opposes absolute immunity for former President Trump. The central point of the brief is that absolute immunity should not be so extensive as to immunize and encourage a President who loses re-election but attempts to usurp another term, in violation of the Executive Vesting Clause in Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of our Constitution. Absolute immunity was never meant to embolden threats to the Presidency itself or to presidential elections.
The brief was signed by 24 prominent attorneys and members of Checks & Balances, including five who served in previous Republican administrations. Signatories include:
Donald Ayer, Deputy Attorney General, 1989-1990; Principal Deputy Solicitor General, 1986-88; United States Attorney, Eastern District of California, 1982-1986; Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of California, 1977-1979.
John Bellinger III, Legal Adviser to the Department of State, 2005-2009; Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, The White House, 2001-2005.
Barbara Comstock, Representative of the Tenth Congressional District of Virginia, United States House of Representatives, 2015-2019; Member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 2010-2014; Director of Public Affairs, United States Department of Justice, 2002-2003; Chief Investigative Counsel, Committee on Government Reform of the United States House of Representatives, 1995-1999.
Mickey Edwards, Representative of the Fifth Congressional District of Virginia, United States House of Representatives, 1977-1993; founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation and former national chairman of both the American Conservative Union and the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Charles Fried, Solicitor General, 1985-1989; Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1995-1999; currently, the Beneficial Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Stuart M. Gerson, Acting Attorney General, 1993; Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, 1989-1993; Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, 1972–1975.
John Giraudo, Attorney Advisor, Office of Legal Counsel, 1986-1988; Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor, December 1986-1988.
Peter Keisler, Acting Attorney General, 2007; Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, 2003-2007; Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General and Acting Associate Attorney General, 2002-2003; Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President, The White House, 1986-1988.
Edward J. Larson, Counsel, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, United States Department of Education, 1986-1987; Associate Minority Counsel, Committee on Education and Labor, United States House of Representatives, 1983-1986; formerly University of Georgia Law School Professor; currently Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University.
J. Michael Luttig, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals, 1991-2006; Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel and Counselor to the Attorney General, 1990-1991; Assistant Counsel to the President, The White House, 1980-1981.
Carter Phillips, Assistant to the Solicitor General, 1981-1984.
Alan Charles Raul, Associate Counsel to the President, The White House, 1986-1988; General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, 1988-1989; General Counsel of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1989- 1993; Vice Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, 2006-2008.
Jonathan C. Rose, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy, 1981-1984; Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, 1975-1977; Associate Deputy Attorney General and Director, Office of Justice Policy and Planning, 1974-1975; General Counsel, Council on International Economic Policy, 1972-1974; Special Assistant to the President, 1971-1972; White House Staff Assistant, 1969-1971.
Paul Rosenzweig, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security, 2005-2009; Office of Independent Counsel, 1998-1999; United States Department of Justice, 1986-1991; currently Professorial Lecturer in Law, The George Washington University Law School.
Nicholas Rostow, General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York, 2001-2005; Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, 1987-1993; Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, 1985-1987; currently, Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School.
Robert Shanks, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, 1981-1984.
Christopher Shays, Representative of the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives, 1987- 2009.
Michael Shepherd, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, 1984-86; Associate Counsel to the President, 1986-87.
Larry Thompson, Deputy Attorney General, 2001-2003; Independent Counsel to the Department of Justice, 1995-1998; United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 1982-1986; currently, John A. Sibley Chair of Corporate and Business Law at University of Georgia Law School.
Stanley Twardy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, 1985–1991.
Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, 2001–2003; Governor, New Jersey, 1994–2001.
Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University, 2006-present; currently Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center.
Wendell Willkie, II, Associate Counsel to the President, 1984-1985; Acting Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1992-1993; General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1989-1993; General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education, 1985-1988; currently, adjunct Professor of Law at New York University and adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Richard Bernstein, Appointed by the United States Supreme Court to argue in Carmell v. Texas, 529 U.S. 513, 515 (2000); Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718, 725 (2016).