Supreme Court denies Peter Navarro’s bid to stay out of prison on appeal, must report TODAY

Chrief Justice Roberts denied the plea.

"The application for release pending appeal under 18 U. S. C. §3143(b) is denied," Chief Justice Roberts wrote. "This application concerns only the question whether the applicant, Peter Navarro, has met his burden to establish his entitlement to relief under the Bail Reform Act. The Court of Appeals disposed of the proceeding on the ground that Navarro 'forfeited' any argument in this release proceeding challenging the District Court’s conclusion that 'executive privilege was not invoked,' 'forfeited any challenge' to the conclusion that relief would not be required in any event because of the qualified nature of executive privilege, and 'forfeited any challenge' to the conclusion that apart from executive privilege, he was still obligated to appear before Congress and answer questions seeking information outside the scope of the asserted privilege. Order in No. 24–3006 (DC, Mar. 14, 2024). I see no basis to disagree with the determination that Navarro forfeited those arguments in the release proceeding, which is distinct from his pending appeal on the merits."

Navarro had been an advisor to President Donald Trump during his administration and had been convicted on contempt of Congress charges. He had attempted to stave off the beginning of the prison sentence until his appeal was heard.

At sentencing, Navarro’s team argued during that he believed he could not comply with the committee’s subpoena due to executive privilege.

"When I received that congressional subpoena…I had an honest belief that the privilege had been invoked," Navarro said to US District Judge Amit Mehta.