WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from Michael Cohen, who wanted to hold his former boss and ex-president Donald Trump liable for a jailing he said was retaliation for writing a tell-all memoir.
The justices did not detail their reasoning in the brief order, as is typical.
Cohen had asked the high court to revive a lawsuit tossed out by a New York judge who found the law did not generally provide a damages remedy for most claims that someone was jailed in retaliation for their criticisms of a president.
An appeals court affirmed the dismissal, finding that Cohen had already obtained relief when a judge ordered his release from imprisonment to home confinement.
Cohen served over a year of a three-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2018 to tax evasion, campaign finance charges and lying to Congress. He said Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to a porn actor to fend off damage to his 2016 presidential bid. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Cohen was released early as authorities worked to contain the coronavirus outbreak in federal prisons, but returned to prison weeks later. Authorities claimed he failed to accept certain terms of his release. Cohen said he had asked if a condition forbidding him from speaking with the media and publishing his book could be removed.
He served 16 days in solitary confinement before he was again freed to home confinement on the orders of a judge who said he’d been jailed in retaliation for his desire to publish a book critical of the president and to discuss it on social media.
Cohen sued Trump and then-Attorney General William Barr, along with various prison and probation officials.
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