Supreme Court Rejects Peter Navarro’s Request to Leave Prison

Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro holds a press conference before turning himself in to a federal prison in Miami, Fla., on March 19, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Supreme Court issued an order on April 29 denying former White House adviser Peter Navarro’s request to be released from prison while his appeal makes its way through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“The application for release pending appeal addressed to Justice [Neil] Gorsuch and referred to the Court is denied,” an order from the court reads.

Mr. Navarro reported to federal prison in Florida on March 19 following his conviction in a Washington court for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. He had invoked executive privilege, but District Judge Amit Mehta, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said he didn’t show enough evidence of that privilege being asserted by former President Donald Trump.

Chief Justice John Roberts previously denied Mr. Navarro’s emergency motion just before he reported to prison in March.

An opinion from Chief Justice Roberts agreed with the lower court that Mr. Navarro had purportedly “forfeited” a challenge related to his release. He clarified, however, that the release proceeding was distinct from his pending appeal on the merits.

Mr. Navarro received a four-month sentence in January for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee.

Before reporting to a Florida prison, Mr. Navarro said, “When I walk in that prison today, the justice system, such as it is, will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers of executive privilege.”

He is the first top official from the Trump administration to serve prison time after defying a congressional subpoena. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon similarly defied a congressional subpoena but was granted release by Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Trump’s, pending his appeal in the circuit court.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of Mr. Navarro’s appeal comes just after President Trump’s attorney asked the Supreme Court to rule he had immunity from criminal prosecution for some acts in special counsel Jack Smith’s Washington indictment. That case, which threatens potential jail time, targets President Trump’s conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breech.

“For the first time in history, a senior presidential advisor has been convicted of contempt of Congress after asserting executive privilege over a congressional subpoena,” Mr. Navarro stated on March 10.

In his sentencing memo, his attorney argued that Mr Navarro’s actions “do not stem from a disrespect for the law” or from “any belief that he is above the law,” but rather, he “acted because he reasonably believed he was duty-bound to assert executive privilege on former President Trump’s behalf.”