Supreme Court Rebuffs Steve Bannon’s Attempt to Avoid Prison

Steve Bannon speaks to reporters in Washington on Oct. 21, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court has turned away Steve Bannon’s bid to avoid prison as his appeal is decided by the courts.

The justices said they were denying Mr. Bannon’s application for release pending appeal.

Chief Justice John Roberts had received the application and referred the matter to the full court.

Justices provided no comment on the June 28 decision.

In 2022, a jury convicted Mr. Bannon, a former adviser to then-President Donald Trump, of contempt of Congress.

He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Mr. Bannon has said he was acting on advice of counsel when he declined to comply with subpoenas issued by a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

The sentence was put on hold as he appealed the case, as U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said Mr. Bannon had presented a “substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal” of the conviction or an order for a new trial.

But after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May rejected Mr. Bannon’s appeal, Judge Nichols said that was no longer the case.

The judge ordered Mr. Bannon to report to prison on July 1.

Mr. Bannon through his lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene. In the application, lawyers said it would be unfair for Mr. Bannon to start serving his sentence before the full appeals court and justices consider overturning the recent appeal rejection.

“If Mr. Bannon is denied release, he will be forced to serve his prison sentence before this court has a chance to consider a petition for a writ of certiorari, given the court’s upcoming summer recess,” the lawyers wrote.

Department of Justice attorneys, on the other hand, urged the Supreme Court to reject the application. They said Mr. Bannon “cannot make the demanding showing necessary to override the normal requirement that a convicted defendant begin serving his sentence.”

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, told the court in a brief that the panel that subpoenaed Mr. Bannon produced flawed subpoenas because it failed to comply with House regulations, as it did not have a ranking member appointed by the Republican minority.

“Notwithstanding the applicant’s indictment and sentencing, the select committee’s enforcement of the subpoena and the prosecution of Mr. Bannon for failing to participate in a deposition was factually and procedurally invalid,” Mr. Loudermilk wrote. “As such, this court should conclude that the entire prosecutorial process against the applicant was tainted and must be dismissed as a matter of law.”

Peter Navarro, another former adviser to President Trump, is already serving a sentence after being convicted of contempt of Congress after also declining to cooperate with subpoenas from the same committee.