Special counsel asks Supreme Court to take swift action in immunity case against Trump

Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, the Supreme Court urged on Wednesday, rejecting a request by Mr. Trump to put the case on hold while he appeals.

“Delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair adjudication – a compelling interest in any criminal case and one that is of unique national importance here because it involves federal criminal charges against a former president for allegedly criminal activities. efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, including through the use of official power,” Mr. Smith's statement said.

The question for the justices for now is: Should they stay an appeals court ruling rejecting Mr. Trump's claim that he is absolutely immune from prosecution for things he did during his presidency? The answer to that will determine whether the trial can resume as the Supreme Court considers whether to hear a promised petition seeking review of the ruling itself.

The trial was scheduled to begin on March 4 but was postponed while lower courts determined whether Trump has immunity. When a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against Mr. Trump this month, he was given a brief window to ask the Supreme Court for a stay, saying the court proceedings would not result in a restart until the judges decided his application.

Trump's stay request, filed Monday, asked the justices to put the case on hold long enough for him to ask the full D.C. Circuit to rehear the case and then appeal to the Supreme Court if he loses. Such requests to delay proceedings have been a central feature of Mr. Trump's litigation strategy in fighting criminal cases against him across the country.

Any significant delay in the federal election interference case could push the trial into the heart of the 2024 campaign season or extend beyond the election. If Mr. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, wins the presidency, he could order the charges to be dropped.

Mr Smith asked the Supreme Court to take swift action.

“The nation has a compelling interest in a speedy resolution of this matter,” he wrote, adding that Trump's “personal interest in delaying the trial must be balanced against two powerful counterbalancing considerations: the government's interest in fully presenting its case without undue delay and the compelling interest of the public in a speedy disposal of the case.”

The immunity case is just one of three involving Mr. Trump and the charges against him pending before the Supreme Court. The justices heard arguments last week on whether he is even eligible to hold office, and this spring they will hear arguments on the scope of two of the charges against him in the federal election interference case brought by Mr. Smith tightened.

Lower courts have rejected Trump's claim that he is completely immune from prosecution for actions he committed as president.

The judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, ruled that Mr. Trump could be tried. “Whatever immunity a sitting president enjoys,” she wrote, “the United States has only one president at a time, and that position does not confer a lifetime 'get out of jail free' pass.”

The appeals court agreed. “For purposes of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” the panel wrote in an unsigned decision. “But any executive branch immunity that may have protected him while he was president no longer protects him from this prosecution.”