Donald Trump made his final pitch to the Supreme Court on Thursday related to his claim that he cannot be prosectured for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president filed a request demanding a halt to the trial concerning allegations of election subversion filed by special counsel Jack Smith, saying that since it occurred while he served as president, he cannot be prosecuted.
The federal prosecutor had urged the Court to reject the bid and allow for a quick trial.
CNN explained that the Supreme Court should issue a ruling soon.
“There are overwhelming reasons why the case should not go to trial ‘in three months or less,’” Trump told the Supreme Court in a 16-page filing. “With any other defendant, it would be virtually unthinkable for the case to go to trial so soon, and ‘wildly unfair’ to do so.”
Trump claims former presidents must have immunity from such charges to avoid political reprisals when they leave office. So far, two lower federal courts have balked at that argument.
With Trump’s final brief in hand, a question of timing is now squarely before the high court. The justices could deny Trump’s emergency request to temporarily block a DC Circuit ruling against him on the immunity issue or they could agree to further consider his case.
The first outcome would clear the way for a US District court in Washington, DC, to schedule a trial on the underlying election charges, which Smith is eager to resolve before the November election. The second could signal the justices may schedule oral arguments in the case later this year, potentially pushing a trial back several months.
It’s clear that the Biden Department of Justice is desperate to put Trump on trial before the upcoming election. “The nation has a compelling interest in seeing the charges brought to trial,” Jack Smith wrote in his filing. He continued by arguing “the public interest in a prompt trial is at its zenith where, as here, a former president is charged with conspiring to subvert the electoral process so that he could remain in office.”
The indictment levied against Trump accuse him of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of the congressional certification of Biden’s electoral victory, conspiracy to obstruct the same, and plotting against the fundamental right of Americans to vote.
In January, Trump’s lawyer claimed that, in effect, the president cannot commit crimes, going as far as saying that he could send SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival and still be covered by “presidential immunity.”
