Federal prosecutors asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to rule quickly on whether former president Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution so his trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election can go ahead as scheduled.
“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, including three justices nominated by Trump, for an expedited ruling.
“The United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request,” the special counsel said. “This is an extraordinary case.”
“It is of paramount public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved as expeditiously as possible — and, if respondent is not immune, that he receive a fair and speedy trial on these charges,” Smith said.
The Supreme Court said it would expedite consideration of Smith’s petition that it take up the case, and asked Trump’s attorneys to state by December 20 their position on the special counsel’s request.
The former Republican president’s historic trial is scheduled to begin in Washington on March 4, 2024.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly sought to delay the trial until after the November 2024 election including with a claim that a 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 first ever criminal trial of a former president, 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 frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have appealed Chutkan’s ruling to a federal appeals court.
Smith is asking the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and take up the case itself on an emergency basis.