Citing immunity, Trump orders the US Supreme Court to postpone the poll interference trial

In an effort to avoid prosecution on allegations that he orchestrated a scheme to avert his election defeat in 2020, former President Donald Trump is requesting that the Supreme Court prolong the postponement of his trial related to election tampering.

On Monday, only four days after the justices heard Trump’s separate plea to be allowed to continue running for president in spite of efforts to disqualify him due to his post-election plans in 2020, his attorneys filed an emergency appeal with the court.

“The Presidency as we know it will cease to exist without immunity from criminal prosecution,” Trump’s attorneys said, restating points that federal courts have rejected so far.

The petition postpones what was set to be a historic criminal prosecution of a former president until the highest court in the country makes its decision. It fulfilled a deadline set by the federal appeals court in Washington, which rejected Trump’s claims of immunity and said the trial could go on, to request the justices to step in.

The course of action and speed at which the Supreme Court takes action might decide whether the front-runner in the Republican presidential race gets tried in this case before November.

Although the court has not set a deadline, the team led by special counsel Jack Smith has made a strong effort to have the trial this year. Meanwhile, Trump has made multiple attempts to put the lawsuit on hold. In the unlikely event that Trump defeats President Joe Biden, he may attempt to use his authority as head of the executive branch to order the dismissal of the federal prosecutions he is facing or even to get a pardon for himself.

Rejecting the emergency appeal would allow US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to reopen the trial in the federal court in Washington, if the Supreme Court so chooses. Early March was the original intended start date for the trial.

While it considers arguments on the immunity question, the court may potentially decide to prolong the delay. If the judges do agree with lower court decisions that Trump is not immune from prosecution, then the timeline they decide to establish might influence when a trial would start.

Even before the appeals court stepped in, Smith and his team had requested the justices to consider and rule on the immunity question in December. Prosecutors stated in December, “If Respondent’s claim of immunity is denied, it is of paramount public importance that this Court resolve it and that Respondent’s trial proceed as soon as possible.”

The prosecution’s drive for a speedy trial has been attributed by Trump’s legal team to political motivations; in a December letter, they said that the move “reflects the evident desire to schedule President Trump’s potential trial during the summer of 2024 — at the height of the election season.”

It now rests with a court that Trump selected three justices to: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. In significant rulings that have increased gun rights, abolished affirmative action in college admissions, and reversed abortion rights, they have shifted the court to the right.

But when it comes to cases that directly affect the former president, the Supreme Court hasn’t been very kind to Trump. Several challenges pertaining to the 2020 election that were filed by Trump and his associates were turned down by the court. Additionally, it declined to stop tax returns and other records from being given to New York prosecutors and congressional committees.

Nonetheless, it seemed last week that the justices would put a stop to the attempts to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024. Then, a choice may be made at any moment.

Presidents are shielded from civil lawsuits for actions taken while in office by the Supreme Court, and Trump’s attorneys have been arguing for months that this shield should also apply to criminal cases.

Last week, Trump’s new argument that previous presidents have total immunity for conduct that are within the scope of their official job obligations was sternly rejected by a unanimous panel of two justices selected by President Joe Biden and one by a Republican president. Judges have ruled that Trump may face charges for his activities throughout his presidency and in the period leading up to the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol thrice since December.

The case was heard by Karen LeCraft Henderson, a Republican nominated to the court by President George H.W. Bush, and Judges Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs, appointments of Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

As he attempts to win back the White House, Trump is being prosecuted in four different cases, one of which is in Washington. Smith also filed federal charges against him in Florida, and he is scheduled to go on trial in May for allegedly unlawfully keeping secret materials at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

He is also accused of plotting to rig the 2020 Georgian election in state court, as well as of paying porn star Stormy Daniels hush money in New York. He has denied any misconduct.