Trump Asks Supreme Court To Constitutionalize Grudges
President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 9 to revive his dismissed lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, asserting a broad constitutional principle that no president may be permanently separated from a grievance merely because it is old, rejected, sanctioned and legally deceased. The 2022 suit accused Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee and others of conspiring to damage Trump’s 2016 campaign by linking it to Russia. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the case and imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on Trump and attorney Alina Habba, a ruling later upheld by the 11th Circuit after judges applied the controversial legal doctrine known as reading the complaint.
Trump’s appeal argues that the sanctions threaten the presidency by forcing presidents to distinguish between viable legal claims and events they remain furious about. “This case protects every future president’s sacred right to keep suing the woman he defeated until a federal judge finally declares that he won correctly,” Trump said. “Without that right, you do not have a country. You have deadlines, evidence, final judgments and consequences, which nobody voted for.” His attorneys maintain that presidential authority includes immunity from moving on, particularly when the underlying election occurred before several current high school students learned to read.
Constitutional scholars said the filing asks the justices to recognize grievance as an unenumerated executive power, alongside issuing pardons, directing foreign policy and posting through dinner. Clinton has not announced whether she will ask the Court to revisit every argument she lost during the 2016 debates, while Comey has declined to schedule a commemorative reopening of absolutely everything. The justices must now choose between ordinary procedural rules and the nation’s longstanding commitment to giving Trump another opportunity to explain 2016. The Constitution guarantees him endless appeals until history apologizes.
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