US Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s immunity request

The highly anticipated US Supreme Court ruling on former President Donald Trump’s attempt to gain immunity in a federal criminal case, involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, is expected on Monday, the last day of his term. current.

The court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump-appointed justices, appeared to lean during the arguments of April 25 to grant some level of criminal immunity, though perhaps a more restricted version than the “absolute immunity” for official acts he had sought.

Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the US elections on 5 November, in a rematch of the vote four years ago. Regardless of how it is ruled, the court’s slow handling of the case has already helped Trump, by making any trial for the case unlikely. These charges were brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith can be completed before the elections.

The Supreme Court is due to rule on Trump’s appeal of a lower court’s decision rejecting his claim of immunity.

Trump had argued that he has immunity from prosecution because he was serving as president when he took the actions that led to the charges. Smith has opposed presidential immunity from prosecution, based on the principle that no one is above the law.

During arguments, Trump’s legal team urged the justices to fully protect former presidents from criminal charges for official acts performed in office. Without that immunity, Trump’s lawyer said, sitting presidents would face “blackmail and extortion” by political rivals because of the threat of future prosecutions.

Trump, 78, is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, as well as the first former president convicted of a crime.

In the special counsel’s August 2023 indictment, Trump was charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to do so, and conspiring against Americans’ right to vote. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s trial was scheduled to begin March 4 before delays over the immunity issue. Now no trial date has been set. Trump filed his immunity claim with the trial judge in October, meaning the issue has been litigated for about nine months.

In a separate case filed in New York state court, Trump was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan on May 30, 34 counts of falsification of documents to cover up money paid to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal before the 2016 election. Trump also faces criminal charges in two other cases. He pleaded not guilty in these cases and called all cases against him politically motivated.

A lawyer for the special counsel’s office told the Supreme Court during arguments that the “absolute immunity” sought by Trump would shield presidents from criminal liability for bribery, treason, sedition, murder and, as in this case, trying to overturn the results of an election and remain in power.

During arguments, the justices asked hypothetical questions involving a president selling nuclear secrets, accepting a bribe or ordering a coup or political assassination. If such actions were official conduct, Trump’s lawyer argued, a former president could only be impeached if he was first impeached by the House of Representatives and found guilty in the Senate — something that has never happened in U.S. history.

In a survey of Reuters/Ipsos As of May, only 27% of respondents (9% of Democrats, 50% of Republicans and 29% of independents) agreed that presidents should be immune from prosecution unless they have first been impeached and convicted. by Congress.

An extensive schedule

Smith, seeking to avoid delays in the trial, had asked the judges in December to conduct an expedited review after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that month rejected Trump’s immunity claim. Trump opposed the request. Instead of resolving the matter quickly, the justices denied Smith’s request and let the case proceed in a lower court, which upheld Chutkan’s ruling against Trump on February 6.

The immunity ruling comes 20 weeks after Trump sought relief from the Supreme Court on Feb. 12. By contrast, in another major case, the court took less than nine weeks to reinstate Trump in the presidential primary in Colorado after he appealed a lower court ruling that had disqualified him for participating in an insurrection by inciting and supporting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

The timeline for the court’s immunity ruling likely does not leave enough time for Smith to try Trump on charges of federal election subversion and for a jury to reach a verdict before voters head to the polls.

Trump took numerous steps to try to reverse his 2020 loss to Biden.

Federal prosecutors have accused Trump of pressuring government officials to overturn the election results and encouraging his supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to pressure Congress not to certify Biden’s victory, based on on false claims of widespread voter fraud. Trump supporters attacked police and stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers and others fleeing. Trump and his allies are also accused of devising a plan to use fake electors from key states to thwart certification.

Not since its landmark Bush v. Gore decision, which handed the disputed 2000 U.S. election to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, has the Supreme Court played such an integral role in a presidential race.

Trump also faces election subversion charges in Georgia state court and federal charges in Florida brought by Smith related to his retention of classified documents after leaving office.

If Trump regains the presidency, he could try to force an end to the prosecution or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes.

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