It’s safe to say the D.C. Federal Circuit Court doesn’t often generate plots that could work as movie thrillers. Glance at its docket and you’ll see an alphabet soup of cases involving the IRS, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Communications Commission. 

So it was pretty striking earlier this month to hear judges and lawyers at the court dissect this wild scenario: a U.S. president orders SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival. Suspense hinges on whether that president faces criminal charges, or gets off scot-free because presidents are immune from prosecution.   

That’s the hypothetical situation Judge Florence Pan posed to a lawyer for Donald Trump, who is desperately claiming immunity from prosecution for the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.  The lawyer — incredibly — couldn’t give a straight answer.  And the Trump team’s claim of total presidential immunity was met with skepticism, even incredulity, from the three-judge panel at the D.C. Circuit.  

Next stop: the Supreme Court — according to analysts who say the case is likely to land there no matter how the D.C. Circuit........

© The Hill