Special counsel asks Supreme Court to weigh in on Trump immunity in federal Jan. 6 case
Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up former President Trump’s federal 2020 election criminal case, urging the justices to immediately weigh in on Trump’s immunity defense to keep the trial schedule on track.
Trump is attempting to toss the case by arguing he has presidential immunity from the four-count indictment, which accuses him of entering multiple criminal conspiracies to subvert the 2020 election results.
Trump appealed a judge’s rejection of that argument to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last week.
But Smith on Monday urged the nation’s highest court to take up the issue before the D.C. Circuit issues its ruling, citing Trump’s fast-approaching March 4 trial date.
“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Smith wrote in the filing.
Trump’s maneuver threatens to upend his trial date, the first scheduled of any of his four criminal cases.
Prosecutors previously conceded that Trump before trial can appeal the immunity issue as well as his argument that the prosecution violates his constitutional protection against double jeopardy, citing his acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial following Jan. 6.
Trump is also seeking to pause the trial court from moving forward until the appeal is resolved. Prosecutors have argued the former president is simply using every avenue possible to disrupt the case in the hopes of punting the matter beyond the 2024 election.
Smith on Monday also requested the Supreme Court expedite its consideration of whether to take up the issue. If they do agree to hear it, Smith further asked that the justices expedite their consideration of the case.
“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin,” Smith wrote in the filing.
The Hill has reached out to Trump’s attorney for comment.
Separately, Trump is fighting a gag order imposed on him at prosecutors’ request that bars the former president from attacking witnesses, court staff and prosecutors other than Smith himself.
After a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel refused Trump’s request to toss the gag order entirely, Trump now has the ability to appeal the issue to the full D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court.
This story was updated at 1:36 p.m.