Supreme Court tosses Michael Cohen appeal over alleged retaliation by Trump

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court brushed aside an appeal Monday from Michael Cohen, the one-time fixer for Donald Trump, who accused the former president of retaliating against him for promoting a critical tell-all book.

Without comment, the justices declined to hear the case, leaving in place decisions from lower courts that had dismissed Cohen’s lawsuit.

Cohen sued Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr and other federal officials in 2021 for alleged retaliation in response to public comments he made about the book. After declining to sign an agreement barring him from speaking with the media, Cohen was taken back into custody — after initially being released during the pandemic — and placed in solitary confinement for more than two weeks, court records show.

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

Underscoring the uphill fight Cohen faced, both Trump and the Biden administration urged the Supreme Court to reject his appeal. Trump’s attorneys called the case “entirely devoid of merit.” The Justice Department said Cohen made “no meaningful effort to show that the legal issues raised by this case recur in other cases” and that his claim was therefore “outside the mainstream” of the court’s role.

Cohen also faced a tall hurdle the Supreme Court has created that makes it difficult for any American to sue federal law enforcement. A 1971 Supreme Court decision, Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, established that people could sue federal agents if their rights were violated. But the court has been unwilling to expand that right beyond a very limited number of circumstances.

Cohen pleaded guilty to nine counts, including for campaign finance violations tied to payments he made or orchestrated to women during the 2016 campaign, and was serving a three-year prison sentence. He was released from prison on furlough in 2020 during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

When Cohen met with probation officials later that year, he said they presented him with an agreement that required him to avoid engaging with the media and using social media. After Cohen sought to change the terms of that agreement, he was transported back to prison and placed in solitary confinement for 16 days, according to court records.

A federal court ultimately ordered Cohen to be released days after his interaction with corrections officials.

CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.

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