Supreme Court Rejects Peter Navarro’s Plea for Prison Release During Appeal

Peter Navarro’s appeal to be released from jail pending an appeal of his conviction in 2023 for contempt of Congress has been denied. Navarro was a former trade advisor for Donald Trump and was convicted of contempt in 2023 after failing to comply with a J6 Committee Subpoena.

This is the second time Navarro has been denied. Bob Hoge covered the first denial back in March.

Chief Justice John Roberts denied a request to delay Peter Navarro’s four-month sentence on Monday. This means that the former Trump advisor will have to report to a satellite camp of the federal Bureau of Prisons in Miami, which is rated as low-security. Roberts was assigned the case because he oversees emergency matters arising out of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

The committee subpoenaed him but he refused to show up. He was found guilty in 2023 on two counts of contempt for Congress, one for not producing documents and the other for not attending his deposition.

Navarro’s bid was again rejected by Justice Neil Gorsuch, in a short one-sentence ruling:

The Court denied the application for the release of the prisoner pending an appeal that was addressed to Justice Gorsuch.

Navarro’s attempt was part of a procedure that has been rarely successful.

Navarro requested the Supreme Court in an urgent request last month to allow him to remain free until he could challenge his conviction before the federal appeals courts in Washington, DC. Chief Justice John Roberts rejected that request on 18 March, and Navarro was sent to prison the next day.

Navarro, in an attempt to use a procedure that had not been successful for decades, resubmitted his request to Justice Neil Gorsuch. This was Trump’s first nominee for the high court. Supreme Court rules permit parties to submit their emergency applications to another justice if they are denied by one justice.

Gorsuch sent the request to the entire court, who considered it in a closed-door conference held on Friday. The court refused the request without comment on Monday.

Navarro received a four-month prison sentence after his conviction. The appeal against his conviction is still pending.