(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – History is in the making as the United States Supreme Court agreed to take the case that will look into whether former President Trump can face criminal charges for his alleged actions to change the outcome of his 2020 reelection loss.
Trump wanted the Supreme Court to pause his trial but not to look into his claims of immunity just yet. He wanted to go through appeals in lower courts first, but the Supreme Court, following prosecutor Smith’s advice, decided to look into Trump’s immunity claims right away. However, they did not agree with Smith’s request to stay out of the case completely and let the trial go ahead immediately.
The court has set a fast track for this case. They plan to hear arguments in the week of April 22. They aim to make a decision by the end of June or earlier. If the court decides against Trump, this would allow Smith’s prosecution to move forward. Trump’s judge could then schedule the trial before the November election.
This comes on top of Trump’s first criminal trial that will start on March 25 in New York over hush money charges. The Supreme Court battle over Trump’s immunity will happen during this trial.
In Washington, D.C., Trump is fighting four federal felony charges. These accuse him of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. He has pleaded not guilty and claims he is immune from these charges.
Trump commented on Truth Social about the Supreme Court’s decision. “Without Presidential Immunity, a President will not be able to properly function, or make decisions, in the best interest of the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Presidents will always be concerned, and even paralyzed, by the prospect of wrongful prosecution and retaliation after they leave office. This could actually lead to the extortion and blackmail of a President.”
The special counsel’s office did not comment on this.
Another Trump case is already before the justices. They are reviewing a Colorado ruling that removed Trump from the state’s ballot under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban.
Trump’s lawyers will argue in the Supreme Court that the indictment against him for federal election subversion should be thrown out. They say he has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the D.C. Circuit panel wrote. “We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter. Careful evaluation of these concerns leads us to conclude that there is no functional justification for immunizing former Presidents from federal prosecution in general or for immunizing former President Trump from the specific charges in the Indictment.”
Despite the appeal giving Trump a delay in his original March 4 trial date, the special counsel has been working to resolve Trump’s immunity claims quickly. Smith asked the Supreme Court to take up the case immediately last year, but the justices didn’t step in then.
“Delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict — a compelling interest in every criminal case and one that has unique national importance here, as it involves federal criminal charges against a former President for alleged criminal efforts to overturn the results of the Presidential election, including through the use of official power,” Smith’s office wrote after Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay his trial.
Trump, on the other hand, wanted the Supreme Court to wait and let him appeal to the full D.C. Circuit bench first. But the Supreme Court’s order does not give Trump this chance.
Trump’s lawyers have criticized the prosecutors for not explicitly linking their push for a speedy trial to the upcoming presidential election. “As before, there is no mystery about the Special Counsel’s motivation,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Commentators across the political spectrum point to the obvious — the Special Counsel seeks to bring President Trump to trial and to secure a conviction before the November election in which President Trump is the leading candidate against President Biden.”
