Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to stay a lower court ruling denying him immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump’s lawyers filed a 39-page emergency appeal on Monday asking SCOTUS to implement a “stay” of the ruling issued by a three-judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The panel was made up of Biden appointees Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs, as well as Karen LeCraft Henderson, who ascended to the bench under President Bush in 1990.
The justices unanimously rejected Trump’s argument that he should be immune from charges because the conduct alleged in the federal indictment occurred while he was in office.
“For the purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become a Trump citizen, with all the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the judges wrote in their opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to stay a lower court ruling that denied him full immunity from prosecution.
The filing asked the Supreme Court (pictured) to implement a “stay” of the ruling issued by a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the stay is necessary to give them time to request additional review of the ruling, either before the full D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court.
“But any executive immunity that may have protected him while serving as president no longer protects him against this prosecution.”
The panel said the ruling would take effect on Feb. 12 unless Trump asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief, or if the full appeals court agreed to hear the case after the deadline.
Trump was indicted on four counts last year stemming from an alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He has pleaded not guilty.
Monday’s filing called the D.C. Circuit panel’s decision “a stunning violation of historical precedent and norms.”
“Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Such an argument has not yet held water in federal courts.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the stay is necessary to give them time to seek additional review of the ruling, either before the full D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s decision could determine whether Trump will be tried before the November election.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has pushed for the trial to take place this year, as Trump has repeatedly tried to delay it by every means possible.
If Trump were to win the presidency in 2024, he could order a new attorney general to dismiss federal cases or seek a pardon for himself.
“For purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become a Trump citizen,” the three-judge panel wrote in its opinion.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has pushed for the trial to take place this year, as Trump has repeatedly tried to delay it by every means possible.
If Trump were victorious in the 2024 presidential election, he could order a new attorney general to dismiss federal cases or seek a pardon for himself.
If the Supreme Court were to reject the emergency appeal, this would allow US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to restart the proceedings in federal court in Washington, initially scheduled to begin in March.
But the justices could also extend the deadline to hear arguments on the immunity question.
Smith’s team has argued that the case be taken up again as soon as possible.
“It is of imperative public importance that Defendant’s claim of immunity be resolved by this Court and that Defendant’s trial proceed as soon as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” prosecutors wrote in December.
But Trump’s camp argued that the expedition demands were attempts to impede his ability to campaign in the upcoming presidential election.
In Monday’s appeal, Trump’s lawyers indicated they would seek to extend the delay by seeking an opinion from the federal appeals court in Washington.
Only later would they present a formal appeal to the Supreme Court. This could mean an indiscriminate amount of time ranging from weeks to months before trial preparations can restart.
Trump is also charged in Georgia state court with conspiring to subvert that state’s 2020 election results (pictured: Fulton County Senior Judge Scott McAfee).
Additionally, Trump faces federal charges in Florida stemming from the illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property.
Trump’s camp has argued that the special counsel’s expedite demands were attempts to impede his ability to campaign in the upcoming presidential election.
Three Supreme Court justices (Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh) were appointed during Trump’s presidency and have repeatedly tilted the court to the right in major decisions such as overturning abortion rights.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 1982 decision involving Richard Nixon that presidents are immune from civil suits arising from acts performed within their official duties.
Trump’s lawyers have argued for months that such protection should extend to criminal prosecution as well.
Trump faces other legal problems in addition to the electoral subversion case.
These include federal charges in Florida stemming from the illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property. The accusation revolves around his refusal to return them to the government despite being asked to do so on multiple occasions.
Trump is also charged in state court in Georgia with conspiring to subvert that state’s 2020 election results and in New York in connection with hush payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels.