The Supreme Court denied former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro’s motion to avoid jail time over his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the January 6 committee in 2022.
“Departing from the practice in most serious or high-profile legal fights, [Chief Justice John] Roberts ruled on Navarro’s request himself, without referring it to the full court,” noted Politico. “The chief justice noted that a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that Navarro failed to raise several challenges to the fairness of his conviction when he first sought to remain free pending appeal.”
In his one-page order, Roberts appeared to keep the door open for Navarro to challenge the initial convictions, writing, “I see no basis to disagree with the determination that Navarro forfeited those arguments in the release proceeding, which is distinct from his pending appeal on the merits.”
The January 6 committee subpoenaed Navarro in 2022, and he immediately refused, citing the former president’s “executive privilege.” Navarro will be the first member of the former president’s advisers to serve prison time and is the second adviser to be convicted of contempt of Congress after Steve Bannon, who has been allowed to remain free while appealing his convictions. Navarro’s judge, Mehta, ruled that he would not be able to stay out of prison while appealing.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Navarro said that his serving of prison time as he appeals the convictions will damage the constitutional separation of powers.
“Justice Roberts took care to note that his reason for denial was ‘distinct from [my] pending appeal on the merits.’ That appeal on the merits will continue and if I fail in that appeal – after nonetheless serving my full prison term — the constitutional separation of powers will be irreparably damaged and the doctrine of executive privilege dating back to George Washington will cease to function as an important safeguard for effective presidential decision-making. There is much at stake here and it is worth the fight,” he said.
“The partisan nature of the imprisoning of a top senior White House aide should chill the bones of every American,” he continued. “In Joe Biden’s weaponized justice system, a Democrat-controlled Congress and Justice Department together with an Obama-appointed District Judge and three Obama-appointed Appeals Court judges drove the Navarro railroad right into prison.”
