Top court nixes fast decision on Trump immunity
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Friday that it will not immediately take up a plea by special counsel Jack Smith to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for his actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
The ruling is a win for Trump and his lawyers, who have sought repeatedly to delay this and other criminal cases against him as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024. It averts a swift ruling from the nation’s highest court that could have definitively turned aside his claims of immunity and pushed the case toward a trial scheduled to start March 4.
The issue will now be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has signaled it will act quickly to decide the case. Smith had cautioned that even a rapid appellate decision might not get to the Supreme Court in time for review and final word before the court’s traditional summer break.
The request to leapfrog the appeals court, which Smith acknowledged was “extraordinary,” underscored prosecutors’ concerns that the legal fight could delay Trump’s trial beyond next year’s presidential election.
The court turned down the request for swift action in a singlesentence order released Friday afternoon. As is the court’s custom, the justices gave no explanation for the decision.
With the justices remaining out of the dispute for now, more appeals are likely that could delay the case. If the appeals court, which is set to hear arguments Jan. 9, turns down Trump’s immunity claims, the former president could then ask for the Supreme Court to get involved and for the case to be paused while the matter is pending.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has already put the case on hold while Trump pursues his claim that he is immune from prosecution. Chutkan has raised the possibility of keeping the March date if the case promptly returns to her court.
She already has rejected the Trump team’s arguments that an ex-president could not be prosecuted.
“Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” Chutkan wrote.