Federal prosecutors asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to decide whether Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
“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,” Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a filing to the nation’s highest court.
Smith asked the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, for an expedited ruling so Trump’s historic trial, currently scheduled to begin in Washington on March 4, 2024, can go ahead.
“It is of imperative public importance that (Trump’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,” the special counsel said.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly sought to delay the trial until after the November 2024 election including with a claim that the former president enjoys “absolute immunity” and cannot be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over the trial, rejected the immunity claim on December 1.
“Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” Chutkan said.
“Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,” she added.
Lawyers for Trump, the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have appealed her ruling.
