Court of Appeals denies Peter Navarro's bid to revisit contempt conviction

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order on Friday refusing to rehear former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro's contempt of Congress challenge, meaning the case will likely proceed to the Supreme Court. The court did not grant a vote for an en banc rehearing, and a three-judge panel had earlier affirmed Navarro's two felony convictions, finding his claim of executive privilege lacked a direct instruction from President Donald Trump.

Navarro's legal team contended that the statutory word “willfully” demands proof of a wrongful intent, citing a 1961 D.C. Circuit decision they say set too low a standard. They also pointed to later Supreme Court rulings that interpret “willful” conduct as requiring a bad or unlawful purpose. Navarro was convicted in 2023, served a four-month federal prison sentence in 2024, and his attorney maintains the issue extends beyond his case to whether any White House adviser can be jailed for acting on a good-faith belief in executive privilege. The development follows a separate contempt case involving Steve Bannon, where a district judge recently denied the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the case after the Supreme Court vacated Bannon's conviction.