Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to immediately weigh in on former President Trump's federal 2020 election case.
In a Monday filing, Smith asked the justices to weigh in on Trump's immunity defense, by which Trump has cited presidential immunity to try and have the case tossed. The former president is accused of entering multiple criminal conspiracies to change the results of the 2020 US election.
The move comes after Trump appealed an appeals court judge's rejection of that argument.
In the Monday filing, Smith cited 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," reads the filing.
Smith has also requested that the Supreme Court expedite its decision on whether it will take up the issue, period. If they do, he wants them to prioritize it over all other cases.
"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," reads the filing.
In his Supreme Court brief, Mr. Smith conceded that the trial would most likely have to be paused because of the appeal of the immunity issue. That position reversed the one his prosecutors took over the weekend in court papers, in which they argued that Judge Chutkan should not have to stay the case pending appeal.
Winning the appeal of the immunity decision was only one of Mr. Trump’s goals in challenging the decision. All along, he and his lawyers have had an alterative strategy: to delay the election interference trial for as long as possible. -NY Times
The filing comes after Judge Tanya S. Chutkan - who worked at the law firm which repped Fusion GPS, the company that helped orchestrate the Russia collusion hoax - rejected Trump's sweeping claims of "absolute immunity" from an election interference indictment because it was based on actions taken while in office.
In her ruling, Chukan condemned attempts to "usurp the reins of government," and said that nothing in the Constitution or US history supports the notion that a former president is immune.
Did I miss something? In SCOTUS request, Jack Smith repeatedly says it's super important Trump immunity issue be decided quickly. But he doesn't say *why* it must be decided quickly. Obviously, that is so Trump can be tried, convicted, and sentenced before 2024 election. Why not…
— Byron York (@ByronYork) December 11, 2023
As the Times further suggests, "If the trial were to be put off until after the 2024 election and Mr. Trump were to win, he could have his attorney general simply dismiss the charges. Holding a trial after the presidential race would also mean that voters would never hear any of the evidence that prosecutors have collected about Mr. Trump’s expansive efforts to reverse the results of the last election before weighing in on whether to re-elect him."
