Michael Cohen asks Supreme Court to intervene in fight over Trump retaliation allegations

CNN
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Michael Cohen, a former fixer for President Donald Trump, is asking the Supreme Court to reopen his lawsuit against the former president, alleging he was retaliated against for promoting his tell-all book critical of Trump, his lawyers said.

Cohen sued President Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr and other federal officials in 2021 for retaliation for his public comments about the book. After he refused to sign an agreement barring him from speaking to the media, he was detained again and held in solitary confinement for more than two weeks, according to court records.

A federal district court dismissed Cohen’s lawsuit for damages, and the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in January.

“When Mr. Cohen, who was writing a book critical of Mr. Trump, did not immediately agree to waive his free speech rights, he was summarily sent back to prison and placed in solitary confinement,” Cohen told the Supreme Court in an appeal his lawyers reportedly filed Wednesday. “As it stands, this case epitomizes the principle that a president and his subordinates can lock up critics of the administration with impunity.”

For Cohen’s lawsuit to survive, he must overcome high hurdles set by the Supreme Court that have made it harder for Americans to sue federal law enforcement officials. The 1971 Supreme Court decision, Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, established that citizens can sue federal agents if their rights are violated. But the court has been reluctant to expand that right beyond limited circumstances.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court further limited the conditions under which such lawsuits could be brought when it rejected a “Bivens” lawsuit against Border Patrol agents in Washington state. The case came after an inn owner on the U.S.-Canada border alleged that officers had used excessive force and that he had been retaliated against for reporting the incident.

In an interview with CNN’s Caitlin Collins on Wednesday, Cohen described himself as essentially a “political prisoner” who was being held for “refusing to give up his constitutional rights.”

“I believe it is the responsibility of the United States Supreme Court to hear this case,” Cohen told “The Source.”

“People need to be extremely careful and be very aware of what’s coming after the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity,” he said. Critics of the presidential immunity ruling handed down by the conservative Supreme Court earlier this month argue that some illegal acts committed by the president, such as targeting political opponents, could be immune from criminal prosecution.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide in the fall whether to hear Cohen’s appeal arguments.

A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cohen pleaded guilty to nine charges, including violating campaign finance laws, for making or arranging payments to women during his 2016 campaign. He served a three-year prison sentence. He was released on parole in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning.

When Cohen met with his probation officers later that year, they presented him with a written agreement that required him to avoid media contact and social media use. When Cohen asked to modify the terms of the agreement, he was returned to prison and placed in solitary confinement for 16 days, according to court records.

In the appeals court, Trump’s lawyers called Cohen’s claims “without merit” and said he had failed to prove a connection between the former president and the agreement.

A federal judge ordered Cohen’s release a few days later.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Jack Forest contributed to this report.