Trump Seeks Supreme Court Help for Immunity Claim

Donald Trump requested on Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court postpone a ruling that rejected his argument that he is immune from prosecution for attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Let’s read the news and find out more.

Trump Seeks Supreme Court Help for Immunity Claim

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution on February 6.

In the hope of winning back his presidential seat in the November 5 U.S. election, Donald Trump requested that the court hold off on this decision.

In a petition submitted to the Supreme Court, Trump’s legal team expressed concern by stating that “conducting of a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign.”

They requested that the trial be put on hold while they argued for the matter to be reexamined by the whole D.C. Circuit court and, if needed, for an appeal to the Supreme Court.

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Trump’s trial on four criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith was originally scheduled for March 4 in federal court in Washington, but it was postponed. So far, no new date has been announced.

In December, Smith’s case was heard by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who dismissed Trump’s argument of immunity, saying that previous presidents “enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability.”

Following Trump’s appeal, the three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit rejected his claim of immunity as well.

The panel ruled that “we cannot accept that the office of the presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.”

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As the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Trump is the first former president to face criminal prosecution.  Trump is trying every possible method to try to delay the decision.

If elected again, he may utilize his presidential powers to stop the prosecution or even pardon himself for federal offenses, which is only possible if he wins the election in November and returns to the White House.

The D.C. Circuit also dismissed the grim image that Trump’s attorneys presented of what would happen to future presidents should his criminal prosecution move forward, including threats of partisan prosecutions, extortion, blackmail, and more.

His attorneys argued, “Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the presidency as we know it will cease to exist.”

They added, “Any decision by the president on a politically controversial question would face the threat of indictment by the opposing party after a change in administrations. All presidential decisions would be exposed to undue, wrongful pressure from opposing political forces, under a threat of indictment after the president has left office.”

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It said, “The threat of prosecution will become a political cudgel used to influence the most sensitive and important presidential decisions with the menace of personal vulnerability after leaving office.”

The D.C. Circuit said in its judgment, “Risk that former presidents will be unduly harassed by meritless federal criminal prosecutions appears slight,”

Additionally, Trump’s attorneys reinforced his long-standing assertion that the prosecution is politically driven.