Mike Pence is very likely to face off with Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Presidential primary.
But first there is a legal battle to fight.
And Mike Pence is going to force the Supreme Court to make this big ruling about Donald Trump.
Anti-Trump special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence to compel testimony before a grand jury in the with hunt into Trump over the events of January 6.
Smith is trying to build a seditious conspiracy case against Trump by forcing Pence to admit that Trump pressured Pence to overturn Electoral College results, despite Trump supposedly knowing this could not be done.
But Pence is contesting the subpoena under the theory that in his Constitutional role as President of the Senate Pence is protected by the “speech and debate” clause, which shields Members of Congress from certain legal proceedings for what they say in their official capacities.
POLITICO reports:
Mike Pence is preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena for testimony about former President Donald Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the former vice president’s thinking.
Pence’s decision to challenge Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request has little to do with executive privilege, the people said. Rather, Pence is set to argue that his former role as president of the Senate — therefore a member of the legislative branch — shields him from certain Justice Department demands.
“He thinks that the ‘speech or debate’ clause is a core protection for Article I, for the legislature,” a source close to Pence told POLITICO. “He feels it really goes to the heart of some separation of powers issues. He feels duty-bound to maintain that protection, even if it means litigating it.”
This is completely uncharted territory and legal experts believe Pence has a strong argument.
“It is admittedly a Constitutionally murky area with no clear outcome,” George Mason University political scientist Mark Rozell said in an interview with POLITICO. Rozell also specializes in executive privilege. “Since there is a legislative function involved in the vice president presiding over the Senate, a court very well could decide that it must address the scope of the speech or debate privilege and whether it would apply in this case.”
“I do think there’s a plausible [speech or debate] argument here,” Georgetown University Constitutional law professor Josh Chafetz stated. “And I’d be surprised if Pence doesn’t eventually make it. After all, a lot of the action here took place in terms of arguments about how he should rule from the chair.”
If Pence contests the subpoena this sets up a fight that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
And the outcome could determine the fate of Joe Biden’s scheme to knock Trump out of the 2024 Presidential race with criminal charges.
Renewed Right will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.