In October 2018, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared at a forum and reflected on what might happen if congressional Democrats pursued Donald Trump’s tax returns after the year’s midterm elections.
“Then [Democrats will] be trapped into appealing to the Supreme Court,” Gingrich said, “and we’ll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it.”
There were audible gasps in the room when the Georgia Republican made the comments, and for good reason. Gingrich was suggesting that Trump and his team expected the Republican’s justices — including Brett Kavanaugh, who’d been confirmed a few weeks earlier — to help shield him from accountability.
More than five years later, the comments came to mind watching a member of Trump’s legal team make a related assessment on Fox News. HuffPost reported:
Donald Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, discussed her hopes on Thursday that the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court will rule in the former president’s favor after recent decisions that booted him from state GOP primary ballots this year, suggesting that a justice whom Trump “fought for” might “step up.”
At issue, of course, are ongoing legal fights over Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 ballot. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars any public official who swore an oath to protect the Constitution from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it or gave “aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” and as a result, two states — and counting — have concluded that the Republican cannot appear on the ballot.
It seems inevitable that the underlying legal question will be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, and during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, Habba, a prominent member of the former president’s legal team, expressed confidence about the eventual outcome.
“I think it should be a slam dunk in the Supreme Court. I have faith in them,” she said. “You know, people like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place. He’ll step up, those people will step up.”
Habba: I think it should be a slam dunk in the supreme court. I have faith in them. You know, people like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place. He'll step up. pic.twitter.com/gQo1h55t6N
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 5, 2024
Perhaps realizing the implications of such rhetoric — the attorney made it sound as if Kavanaugh and “those people” are indebted to the former president who chose them for the high court — Habba quickly added that she expects the justices to side with Trump “not because they’re pro-Trump, but because they’re pro-law.”
Of course, if that were true, and the justices simply stuck to the language of the 14th Amendment, Habba’s client would most certainly lose in his appeals.
The Trump lawyer has made a variety of public comments in recent months that were far from helpful for her client. Habba’s “step up” rhetoric adds to an unfortunate list.
