Washington:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to rule on Donald Trump’s request for immunity from prosecution over charges brought by a special counsel involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, further delaying Trump’s quest to be re-elected as president criminal cases.
The justices put on hold the criminal case being pursued by special counsel Jack Smith and will review a lower court’s rejection of Trump’s claim for immunity from prosecution because of actions he took as president aimed at reversing President Joe Biden’s election victory winning action.
Trump’s lawyers asked for a stay of the ruling, warning that without such immunity the presidency would face dire consequences.
Trump, the first former president to be criminally indicted, is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the November 5 US election.
The case once again thrusts the nation’s top judicial body into an election dispute, as justices are set to rule on whether to overturn a Colorado Supreme Court decision banning Trump from running in the state’s Republican primary under a constitutional provision regarding insurrection.
The justices will hold oral arguments the week of April 22 on the question: “Whether and to what extent a former president enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged official acts committed during his term in office.”
On February 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Trump’s immunity claim in a 3-0 decision, rejecting his proposal for “unlimited criminal powers that would negate the most basic constraints on executive power— — Recognition and implementation of election results.”
Smith filed four federal criminal counts against Trump in August 2023 in the election subversion case. The March 4 trial date was postponed as Trump persisted in his claim of immunity, but a new date has not yet been set. He has three other criminal cases pending against him. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases, seeking to portray them as politically motivated. His lawyers filed a petition with the Supreme Court on February 12.
They said in a Supreme Court filing that a months-long criminal trial would “fundamentally undermine” Trump’s ability to run against rival Joe Biden. They also warned that if Trump was allowed to prosecute, future presidents would face dire consequences, such as partisan prosecutions, racketeering, and more.
Smith’s complaint accuses Trump of conspiring to defraud the United States, obstructing Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory and conspiring to do so, and conspiring to violate Americans’ voting rights.
Trump and his allies falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen and hatched a plan to use fake electors to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Trump also sought to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into not allowing the certification to proceed. Trump supporters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification.
If Trump is re-elected president, he may seek to use his power to force an end to prosecutions or possibly pardon himself for any federal crimes he has committed.
Trump sought to have the charges dismissed last October, arguing that he was immune from criminal prosecution related to actions taken while the president was in office. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected the claim on Dec. 1, prompting Trump to appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court.
During arguments in January, one of Trump’s lawyers told three D.C. Circuit judges that even if the president sells pardons or military secrets, or orders Marine commandos to assassinate political opponents, he cannot be criminally charged unless he first Impeached and convicted in Congress.
“We cannot accept that the Office of the President has since continued to place its predecessor above the law,” the three-judge panel wrote in a unanimous decision rejecting Trump’s immunity claim.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump.
On February 8, the justices heard arguments in another case involving Trump and affecting the November election. The judge challenged the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to ban Trump from the state’s Republican primary based on language in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution after finding that Trump participated in insurrection related to the January 6, 2021 attack. expressed doubts about the ruling. The Capitol was backed by his supporters.
The Colorado and immunity cases put the Supreme Court in the election spotlight in the most direct way since a 2000 ruling that effectively handed the White House to Republican George W. Bush rather than Democrat Al · Al Gore.
Trump served in the White House from 2017 to 2021 and widely claimed immunity both while in office and after leaving the White House.
Smith was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate Trump’s conduct after the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. Smith made accusations against Trump on both issues.
The four pending criminal cases against Trump include two pursued by Smith, one filed in a Georgia state court also related to his efforts to recoup losses in 2020, and the other filed in a New York state court involving the prosecution of a Porn stars pay hush money.
In 2020, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s argument that he was immune from subpoenas issued in state criminal investigations while he was president.
In a separate case, the justices also agreed to decide whether a man involved in the Capitol attack can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding — Congress’s certification of the 2020 election results. The case has potential implications for Trump because Smith filed two charges related to obstruction of justice.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
