Levine & Levine Managing Partner Randall Levine joined Michael Patrick Shiels of Michigan’s Big Show ahead of the United States Supreme Court’s consideration of former president Donald Trump’s direct claims of immunity from conspiracy and obstruction charges related to the 2020 presidential election. The case is among several that the Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling on in June.
During his interview, Levine shared that for a first offender on a white collar offense, the likelihood of him actually being incarcerated is slim.
Shiels asked Levine whether Trump or any former president is immune from federal prosecution.
Levine explained: “That’s what the United States Supreme Court is going to have to decide and they frame the issue narrowly. The Supreme Court is going to decide whether, if, and to what extent, the former president enjoys presidential immunity for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. And just by the way they framed that, contrary to Trump’s position that he’s absolutely immune, the United States Supreme Court is going to decide – maybe he might have a little bit qualified immunity.
“This is really a tough separation of powers in question,” Levine added. “The framers of the constitution were concerned with the prospect of authoritarian monarch running the country. So they divided the country into three branches and they gave the executive branch powers. In order for the executive to function, he’s got to be able to be unfettered in the exercise of his discretion with respect to official acts. So the question becomes what is an official act and were Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election an official act or merely a private act, which he engineered in order to try to stay in power.
Levine continued: “(Trump’s) been indicted and he said, ‘wait a minute. You can’t prosecute me because, I, as president, have the right to overturn an election that I believe to have been fraudulent.’ The question is, does that conduct that he engaged in and creating this false plate of electors along with others, he was not alone – did that activity amount to official acts, which he would receive a qualified immunity that he couldn’t be prosecuted for – that’s the whole question.
“We want to make sure that our executive does not engage in lawlessness. He himself made some comment at one point, saying he could shoot someone in the streets of Manhattan and walk away because he was immune. I don’t think the justices are going to go that far and we would hope that they would hold the president, and even though he’s going to have some qualified immunity, to a standard which does not allow for lawless behavior for the chief executive of our country.”
Listen to Mr. Levine’s full interview, here.