U.S. special counsel Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to quickly consider if former President Donald Trump has immunity from criminal charges alleging he conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Smith is hoping that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, thus bypassing Trump’s appeal of her ruling to the federal appellate court.
In an effort to keep Trump’s scheduled March 4 trial date, Smith has called the Supreme Court ruling an “extraordinary request”, which the court has agreed to hear arguments from both sides. Trump’s lawyers will be submitting briefs on the issue by December 20. Smith is trying to avoid having the trial delayed until after the 2021 presidential election, as Trump remains the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump appointed three of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices during his four years in office, yet he has not had much success when it comes to the Supreme Court. The justices have rejected requests from Trump and his supporters regarding the 2020 election results. Additionally, the court ruled against his claims that the presidency protected him from investigation, as well as blocked his efforts to keep his financial records private.
Smith is asking the Supreme Court to decide if Trump is immune from prosecution and has submitted briefs highlighting that this is a “fundamental question at the heart of our democracy”. This is an urgent matter, as Smith stated “it is of imperative public importance that [Trump’s] claims of immunity be resolved by this court and that [his] trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected.”
Judge Chutkan has made it clear that no president has the right to a “lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass”, and that Trump could face federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.
The four-count indictment from Washington accuses Trump of conspiring to upend the results of the 2020 election by using false claims of election fraud. On January 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify the results of the Electoral College, Trump urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol and forcible disrupt the procedure. In the following chaos, more than 2,000 Trump supporters clashed with police and destroyed some congressional offices, resulting in more than 1,100 arrests and over 600 convictions.
The outcome of the Supreme Court ruling will be of vital importance, as Trump could order his attorney general to drop both cases if he were to win the White House again and any federal trials had yet to occur.
This case brings into question whether a former president is immune from federal prosecution or is protected from federal prosecution if they are impeached but not convicted prior to the criminal proceedings. It is essential that the Supreme Court decides on this issue quickly and fairly, as the fate of democracy depends on it.
