Supreme Court won’t let former Trump aide Peter Navarro out of jail while he appeals sentence

The
Supreme
Court
on
Monday
denied
a
request
by
Peter
Navarro,
a
former
advisor
to
ex-President

Donald
Trump,
to
get
out
of
jail
while
he
appeals
his
four-month
sentence
for
defying
a
subpoena
from
the
House
committee
that
investigated
the
Jan.
6
Capitol
riot.

The

order
rejecting
Navarro’s
application
for
release
pending
appeal
stated
only
that
his
request
was
addressed
to
Justice
Neil
Gorsuch
and
referred
to
the
court,
which
denied
it.

It
was
the
second
time
in
six
weeks
that
the
high
court
shot
down
Navarro’s
efforts
to
pause
his
jail
sentence
while
he
continues
to
fight
a
guilty
verdict
on
two
counts
of
contempt
of
Congress.

Navarro,
74,
surrendered
to
a
federal
prison
in
Miami
on
March
19
to
begin
serving
his
sentence.

Navarro
was
indicted
after
refusing
to
comply
with
a
subpoena
from
the
House
select
committee
probing
the
events
of
Jan.
6,
2021,
when
a
violent
mob
of
Trump’s
supporters
stormed
the
U.S.
Capitol
and
temporarily
delayed
the
transfer
of
power
to
President

Joe
Biden.

Navarro
claimed
that
the
doctrine
of
executive
privilege
shielded
him
from
responding
to
the
subpoena.
But
much
of
the
information
sought
by
the
committee
was
not
covered
by
executive
privilege,
and
Trump
did
not
assert
executive
privilege
in
the
first
place,
noted
U.S.
Solicitor
General
Elizabeth
Prelogar
in
a
March

filing
to
the
Supreme
Court.

She
was
responding
to
Navarro’s
March
15
request
to
the
high
court
for
his
release
pending
the
appeal
of
his
conviction.

On
March
18,
Chief
Justice
John
Roberts
denied
that
request,
writing
in
a
brief

opinion
that
he
saw “no
basis
to
disagree”
with
the
rulings
of
lower
courts
that
Navarro “forfeited”
arguments
related
to
executive
privilege.
Roberts
noted
that
the
release
proceedings
are “distinct
from
his
pending
appeal
on
the
merits”
of
the
case.

On
April
2,
Navarro’s
lawyers
renewed
his
bid
to
halt
the
report-to-prison
order,
this
time
asking
Gorsuch
to
take
up
the
request.

The
lawyers
noted
that
Navarro
had
already
served
15
days
in
jail
at
that
time.
They
added
that
a
federal
appellate
court
in
Washington,
D.C.,
set
a
briefing
schedule
for
his
appeal
that
is
not
set
to
conclude
until
mid-July
—
after
the
completion
of
Navarro’s
sentence.