The President’s Lawyers Are Making a Dangerous Argument for Presidential Immunity (The Atlantic)
The Atlantic, October 26, 2019
The President’s Lawyers Are Making a Dangerous Argument for Presidential Immunity
“It is time for Barr to recuse himself, as the New York City Bar called on him to do on Wednesday. If he fails to recuse, he should be impeached. And meanwhile, conservative federal judges who defend federalism and states’ rights in so many other contexts should recognize that state prosecutors must be able to pursue investigations with all their tools, but with some federal judicial oversight. For now, district courts should do this job. Perhaps the next Congress might create a system for a panel of federal district judges who would review a state subpoena or even an indictment of a president, so that no one judge faces the burden or the question of singular bias, and so that prosecutors cannot “forum shop” for one district judge in a particularly friendly circuit. Another safeguard would be to allow for a fast-track of any appeal directly to the Supreme Court. (An indictment is probably necessary to prevent the statute of limitations from running out while a president is in office, especially for two terms.)”
