The US Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by Peter Navarro, former trade adviser to President Donald Trump, to avoid prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a subpoena from the House panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. Navarro, 74, is set to become the first senior member of the Trump administration to be imprisoned for actions related to the attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles certain emergency matters involving cases from Washington, acted for the Supreme Court in rejecting Navarro's request. In a brief order, Roberts stated that he saw "no basis to disagree" with the DC Circuit's determination that Navarro had forfeited various arguments seeking to avoid prison, emphasizing that this decision is distinct from Navarro's pending appeal on the merits of his conviction.
Navarro is scheduled to arrive at a federal prison in Miami around 11:30 am ET on Tuesday to begin serving his four-month prison sentence. His attorneys had filed an emergency motion to stave off the imminent jail term, which was directed to Chief Justice Roberts, who serves as the circuit justice for the D.C. Circuit and oversees the Washington, D.C. court where Navarro was charged and tried.
Last September, a jury convicted Navarro of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for defying the Democratic-led House of Representatives committee's subpoena. The committee, which Navarro spurned, investigated the Capitol attack as well as Trump's broader attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Navarro had argued that he believed he did not have to cooperate with Congress because he thought Trump had invoked the legal doctrine of executive privilege, which shields some presidential records and communications from disclosure. However, the House committee emphasized that it had asked him about many subjects not directly related to his conversations with Trump, which could not conceivably be subject to executive privilege.
The former Trump aide is the second prominent figure to be convicted of contempt of Congress for rebuffing the House panel. Steve Bannon, another former Trump adviser and right-wing firebrand, was sentenced to four months in prison in 2022 but has avoided serving the sentence while he appeals his conviction.
Navarro and Bannon worked on a 2020 strategy they dubbed the "Green Bay sweep," a plan to orchestrate congressional challenges to Joe Biden's presidential electors on January 6, 2021, the day the House and Senate met to certify the 2020 election results. Navarro also authored a three-part report making largely discredited claims of election fraud, one installment of which Trump cited in a now-infamous tweet urging supporters to descend on Washington for a "wild" protest on January 6.
As Navarro faces imminent imprisonment, the Supreme Court's decision to deny his emergency motion highlights the legal consequences faced by those who defied the House committee's investigation into the Capitol attack and Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The case also underscores the ongoing legal battles stemming from the events of January 6, 2021, as the nation continues to grapple with the aftermath of the unprecedented attack on American democracy.
