Court declines to fast-track Trump’s immunity case

DONALD TRUMP won a significant legal victory after the Supreme Court turned down a request from special prosecutor Jack Smith to expedite his claim for immunity.

The decision means that Mr Trump’s trial on four election subversion charges, which was due to start on March 4, is likely to be delayed for several months.

As a result of the ruling, Mr Trump’s attempt to have the case dismissed on the grounds of presidential immunity will have to go through the appeal courts.

The former president, who faces a barrage of litigation, has sought to delay the cases until after the election in the hope that he will be able to order the Justice Department to dismiss the charges if he returns to the White House.

Mr Smith sought to head off the delay, at least in the Jan 6 trial, by asking the Supreme Court to fast-track a hearing on Mr Trump’s immunity claim, enabling the case to start as scheduled in March. He urged the justices to bypass the appeals court system to protect the original trial timetable.

“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,” Mr Smith wrote.

“The United States recognises that this is an extraordinary request,” he added. “This is an extraordinary case.”

Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing the subversion case, rejected Mr Trump’s claims of absolute immunity, because the actions took place while he was still in office. However, Judge Chutkan also put the case on hold until higher courts had ruled on the former president’s immunity claims.

Mr Trump’s lawyers argued that Mr Smith’s attempt to fast-track the immunity hearing was politically motivated.

“He confuses the ‘public interest’ with the manifest partisan interest in ensuring that President Trump will be subjected to a months-long criminal trial at the height of a presidential campaign where he is the leading candidate and the only serious opponent of the current administration,” they argued.