U.S. special counsel Jack Smith is requesting the Supreme Court to swiftly decide whether former President Donald Trump is exempt from prosecution for fraudulently attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Smith is keen to ensure that Trump’s trial scheduled for March 4 in Washington will proceed as planned and is asking the nation’s highest court to quash the appeal of the ruling by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and bypass the federal appellate court process, which could take months.
Smith has declared that the request for direct consideration of Trump’s immunity from prosecution is “extraordinary” and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments from both sides about if they should act quickly to decide the matter. Trump’s lawyers have been directed to submit briefs on the issue by December 20.
The motivation behind Smith’s plea is to avoid delaying the trial until after the presidential election of next November. Despite the four criminal indictments against him, Trump is the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. If he were to be elected, he could command an attorney general to drop the two cases brought by Smith.
Trump appointed three of the current Supreme Court justices during his term as president. However, his previous attempts to challenge the 2020 election results, block the release of his financial records, and claim presidential immunity from investigation have all been rejected by the justices.
The prosecutors have argued that the case presents a “fundamental question at the heart of our democracy”, which is whether a former president is protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before criminal proceedings begin. The urgency of the matter was highlighted to the Supreme Court as a prompt resolution of the immunity claims is essential for the trial to move forward.
Judge Chutkan has previously stated that the office of the President does not provide a “lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass” and that Trump is subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.
Trump is indicted on four counts in Washington, all of which he has denied, for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. His actions on January 6, 2021, where he encouraged supporters to march to the Capitol building and “fight like hell” to disrupt the congressional proceedings have led to the arrest of over 1,100 protesters, with 600 convictions of a range of offenses.
Despite the chaos, Congress ratified Biden’s victory in the early hours of January 7 and he became the president on January 20, 2021. With Smith’s request to the Supreme Court, the resolution of Trump’s immunity claims is of great importance to the nation’s future.
