After President Trump said Friday that Hillary Clinton was cleared of charges by a “rigged” system, experts said it may be possible for the Justice Department to reopen the criminal probe, although it is unlikely.
Launching a renewed investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state would not run afoul of the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause, which bans prosecution twice for the same crime, experts say.
“The double jeopardy clause ban only applies to prosecutions, not investigations. So there is no constitutional bar to reopening the investigation,” said Susan Herman, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and president of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Jeopardy doesn’t attach until a jury is sworn in a jury trial, or until the first witness is sworn in a judge trial,” said Lissa Griffin, a Pace University law professor who has written about the constitutional protection.
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