WASHINGTON — Special Counsel Jack Smith asked Supreme Court On Wednesday, denying an emergency appeal seeking to further delay the former president’s criminal trial stemming from Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Smith gave his answer Trump’s request six days before the time fixed by the court. The former president is seeking more time to file his case that the federal indictment should be dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.
Smith said Trump’s bid to delay an appeals court ruling rejecting his immunity claim does not meet the necessary requirements for Supreme Court intervention. his application.
“Delay in resolving these charges threatens to undermine the public interest in speedy and fair sentencing — an interest that is compelling in every criminal case and of unique national importance here,” Smith wrote.
He added that the case “involves federal criminal charges against the former president for alleged criminal attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election through the exercise of official authority.”
Smith said that if the court is inclined to grant Trump’s request, it should immediately put the case on an accelerated schedule and rule “as soon as possible” for the trial to proceed.
He suggested the court could hear oral arguments as early as next month, giving it until the end of June, when the court normally expires, to make a decision.
On February 6, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision against Trump on the issue of immunity. The three-judge panel gave Trump time to file an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court that would block the ruling from taking effect. effect.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, based in Washington, D.C., originally scheduled a trial for March 4. This is one of four criminal cases Trump is fighting.
If Trump wins the election, he will be able to order the charges in the Washington case to be dismissed. If he had already been convicted, he could apply for a pardon.
Trump’s lawyers say presidents should have full immunity for official activities as president, and that his actions to question the results of the 2020 election are part of his official duties. Among the legal questions lurking in his case is whether Trump’s attempts to interfere in the election were an official act.
If Trump’s prosecution is allowed to stand, then “such prosecutions will be repeated and increasingly widespread, leading to cycles of destructive crime,” his lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court filing.