Michael Cohen asks Supreme Court to let him sue Trump
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Michael Cohen on May 14 in New York City. Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Michael Cohen asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to let him sue his onetime boss, former President Trump, for allegedly violating his constitutional rights and retaliating against him, according to the appeal obtained by Axios.
The big picture: The appeal is the latest in a years-long standoff between Trump and his one-time fixer and personal attorney and comes after Cohen's testimony in the hush money case that led to the former president's conviction.
Zoom in: Cohen is requesting the high court allow him to revive his 2021 lawsuit that accused Trump and other federal officials of retaliation for public comments he made about a tell-all book about the former president.
- Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for tax evasion and campaign finance violations, was released during the COVID-19 pandemic for health reasons. But he was taken back into custody and placed into solitary confinement after announcing plans to write the book.
- "When Cohen, who was writing a book critical of Trump, did not agree immediately to waive his right to free speech, he was summarily sent back to prison and thrown into solitary confinement," Cohen's lawyer, Jon-Michael Dougherty, wrote in the appeal.
- A federal judge later ordered Cohen to be released and criticized the Trump administration for its "retaliatory" action, per the New York Times.
What they're saying: "As it stands, this case represents the principle that presidents and their subordinates can lock away critics of the executive without consequence," Dougherty wrote in the filing.
- "That cannot be the law in the country the Founders created."
Zoom out: The filing comes after the Supreme Court last week ruled in favor of Trump, finding that presidents have immunity for "official acts."
Go deeper: Michael Cohen finishes testifying in Trump's NY hush money trial
