Trump asks US Supreme Court to delay polls, interferes with trial, invoking immunity

Former President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay his election interference trial, saying he would be immune from prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

His lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the court on Monday, just four days after judges heard Trump’s separate appeal to keep the presidential election despite attempts to kick him out of the race for his 2020 election defeat efforts were made later.

“Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the presidency as we know it would cease to exist,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, repeating arguments that have so far failed in federal court.

The filing remains pending in what would be a landmark criminal trial of the former president while the U.S. Supreme Court decides how to proceed. A federal appeals court in Washington set a deadline for a judge to intervene when it rejected Trump’s immunity claim and ruled that the trial can proceed.

The Supreme Court’s decision on the action, and how quickly, could determine whether the Republican presidential primary front-runner will go to trial in the case before November.

There is no timetable for court action, but special prosecutor Jack Smith’s team has pushed strongly for a trial this year. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly sought to delay the case. If Trump were to defeat President Joe Biden, he might try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order the new attorney general to dismiss federal cases facing him or even seek a pardon for himself.

The Supreme Court’s options include dismissing the emergency appeal, which would allow U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to restart proceedings in federal court in Washington. The trial was initially scheduled to begin in early March.

The court may also extend the delay while hearing arguments on immunity issues. In that case, if the justices do agree with a lower court’s ruling that Trump is not immune from prosecution, the timeline they might set could determine when the trial begins.

Last December, Smith and his team urged judges to take up and decide the immunity issue even before the appeals court got involved. If his request for immunity is denied, it will be processed as quickly as possible,” prosecutors wrote in December.

Trump’s legal team has characterized prosecutors’ push for an immediate trial as partisan, writing in December that it “reflects a clear desire to schedule President Trump’s potential trial for the summer of 2024 — the election season.” At its peak.”

Now it’s up to the court, three judges appointed by Trump during his presidency: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. They moved the court to the right in major decisions that overturned abortion rights, expanded gun rights and ended affirmative action in college admissions.

But the Supreme Court has not been particularly friendly to Trump on legal matters directly related to the former president. The court declined to hear multiple appeals filed by Trump and his allies related to the 2020 election. It also refused to block the transfer of tax files and other documents to congressional committees and prosecutors in New York.

Last week, however, it did appear that judges might end their efforts to block Trump from running in the 2024 election. Decisions in this case may be made at any time.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that presidents are immune from civil liability for official actions, and Trump’s lawyers have argued for months that this protection should also be extended to criminal prosecutions.

Last week, a panel of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden and one judge appointed by a Republican president unanimously and strongly rejected Trump’s novel claim that the former president has absolute immunity for conduct that fell within the scope of his official job duties. claim. It’s the second time since December that a judge has ruled that Trump can be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House and before the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

The case is being heard by Judges Florence Penn and Michelle Childs, both Democrats, and Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson, a Republican appointed by President George H.W. .

The case in Washington is one of four indictments Trump faces as he seeks to regain the White House. He faces federal charges in Florida accusing him of illegally retaining confidential documents at Mar-a-Lago, a case also brought by Smith and is scheduled to go to trial in May.

He has also been charged in Georgia court with conspiring to subvert the state’s 2020 election and in New York in connection with a hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He denies any wrongdoing.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from Yonhap News Agency-The Associated Press)