Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court Monday to consider whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution in his 2020 election case.
Smith asked the justices to take Trump’s case before a judgement is reached in the lower courts to consider the former president’s claim that he is immune from prosecution. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to toss Trump’s case based on presidential immunity early December.
“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Smith told the Court.
“Respondent’s claims are profoundly mistaken, as the district court held,” he continued. “But only this Court can definitively resolve them.”
The trial to consider Smith’s charges against Trump stemming from his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election is currently scheduled to begin in the district court on March 4.
Smith wrote that the United States “recognizes that this is an extraordinary request.”
“This is an extraordinary case,” the petition states. “The Court should grant certiorari and set a briefing schedule that would permit this case to be argued and resolved as promptly as possible.”
Chutkan wrote Dec. 1 that the presidency does not “confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”
“Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” she wrote.
Trump first moved to have his case dismissed in October, arguing that the actions outlined in the indictment fell within his official duties as president. He was indicted on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights, in August.
Smith also asked the Court Monday to expedite its decision because the case involves “issues of exceptional national importance.”
“This case involves an issue of exceptional national importance: the amenability to federal prosecution of a former President of the United States for conduct undertaken during his presidency and the effect, if any, that his acquittal in impeachment proceedings has on this federal prosecution,” he wrote.
