Former President Donald Trump has urged the Supreme Court to reject a request by special counsel Jack Smith to determine whether he is immune to prosecution for his alleged involvement in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he cannot be prosecuted as he was the President at the time of his alleged crimes.
Smith, who is investigating Trump for attempting to overturn the election and mishandling classified documents, filed an accelerated motion asking the Supreme Court to jump over the lower appeals court and directly weigh in.
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Trump had until Wednesday to respond, and his legal team has begged the high court to stay out of the matter. They argue that Smith wants the justices to “rush to decide the issues with reckless abandon.
” However, if the Supreme Court waits for a lower appeals court decision before ruling, the trial may be delayed. Trump’s trial is currently set to begin on March 4, the day before Super Tuesday. If the Supreme Court takes the case and rejects Trump’s argument, the trial will likely proceed as scheduled.
Trump Asks Supreme Court Not to Consider That Thing He Said, Please
Smith indicted Trump in August for his role in the January 6 insurrection and other attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump faces several charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding corruptly, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has insisted the case should be dismissed.
Trump claims that former Presidents cannot be criminally charged for actions related to their official responsibilities. However, he did not explain how overturning an election was related to his official presidential duties.
In reality, if the Supreme Court waits to rule until after a lower appeals court issues a decision, then the whole process could delay Trump’s trial. This is presumably what Trump and his lawyers want, since the trial is currently set to begin on March 4, the day before Super Tuesday. If the Supreme Court instead takes the case and rejects Trump’s argument, the trial will likely proceed on schedule.
Smith indicted Trump in August for the former president’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and other attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump faces one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to corruptly obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote.
Trump wants the Supreme Court to issue a “stay” of the appeals court’s ruling — an action that would keep the proceedings in the trial court frozen. Those proceedings have been delayed for two months while Trump has litigated the immunity issue, and the originally scheduled trial date of March 4 has already been postponed.
Trump Asks Supreme Court Not to Consider That Thing He Said, Please
The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, rejected Trump’s immunity claim, but Trump appealed her decision to a Washington federal appellate court. Smith, on the other hand, asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Trump’s legal team had until Wednesday to respond, and when they did, it was to beg the high court to stay out of it. His lawyers argued that Smith wanted the justices to “rush to decide the issues with reckless abandon.”
The Supreme Court justices have not indicated how they will rule on the matter. Still, since Trump appointed three members of the conservative-leaning bench, the majority of the justices are also sticklers for the Constitution. They will have to decide this matter one way or another.
