Former US President Donald Trump watches a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, on February 17, 2024.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal charges in his federal election interference case.
The Supreme Court granted Trump’s request to stay the case until it is determined whether an ex-president is immune from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, as Trump claims.
The justices are poised to move quickly, with Trump’s court briefs due within three weeks and oral arguments scheduled for the week of April 22. However, it could take months for the court to issue an opinion.
If the justices rule against Trump, the case will continue in federal court in Washington, D.C., and could be heard in the middle of the presidential campaign, where Trump is trying to beat President Joe Biden.
If the justices rule in favor of Trump, the case will be dismissed.
The nine-member Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority. Trump appointed three of these conservative justices during his term.
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The decision to accept the immunity claim extends a pause related to an earlier ruling by a lower appeals court that flatly rejected Trump’s argument that he could not be prosecuted for challenging the 2020 election results because he was president at the time .
“For purposes of this criminal proceeding, former President Trump has become a citizen of Trump,” the appeals panel judges ruled unanimously. “Any executive immunity that may have protected him during his time as president no longer protects him from this prosecution.”
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump in DC, had asked the Supreme Court not to let Trump further delay the election interference case.
But Trump’s lawyers had asked the court to consider their argument, writing: “Without immunity from prosecution, the presidency as we know it will cease to exist.”
Smith alleges that Trump illegally conspired in various ways to overturn Biden’s victory in 2020, culminating in an attempt to stop Congress from counting legitimate Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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2024-02-28 23:13:38
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