An attorney for President Donald Trump believes he's found the silver bullet to stop a woman from suing the president for allegedly defaming her after she came forward with claims of his past sexual misconduct.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz is arguing that Trump is immune from such litigation thanks to the Supremacy Clause in the United States Constitution.
The clause establishes the Constitution -- as well as laws passed and treaties signed by the federal government -- as the "supreme law of the land."
Kasowitz argues that this clause means that "the 'singular importance of the President’s duties' warrants a stay where civil actions, such as this one, 'frequently could distract a President from his public duties, to the detriment of not only the President and his office but also the Nation that the President was designed to serve.'"
However, the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the Constitution did not prohibit the president from facing civil suits from private citizens, although the court's decision did not specifically address this particular interpretation of the Supremacy Clause in its ruling.
Because of this, Kasowitz argues that courts should toss out a defamation lawsuit that was filed by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, who accused the president of falsely disparaging her after she made sexual assault allegations against him.
Last year in the heat of the presidential campaign, Zervos came forward to accuse Trump of groping and kissing her without her permission, and of at one point thrusting his genitals at her and becoming angry after she refused sex with him.
