{"id":49401,"date":"2023-12-12T13:30:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/?p=49401"},"modified":"2023-12-12T13:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:30:28","slug":"supreme-court-asked-to-decide-if-trump-has-immunity-from-prosecution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/supreme-court-asked-to-decide-if-trump-has-immunity-from-prosecution\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Asked To Decide If Trump Has Immunity From Prosecution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to rule quickly on whether former president Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution so his trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election can go ahead as scheduled.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office,\u201d Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a filing to the nation\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n

Smith asked the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices nominated by Trump, for an expedited ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request,\u201d the special counsel said. \u201cThis is an extraordinary case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is of paramount public importance that respondent\u2019s claims of immunity be resolved as expeditiously as possible \u2014 and, if respondent is not immune, that he receive a fair and speedy trial on these charges,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court said it would expedite consideration of Smith\u2019s petition that it take up the case, and asked Trump\u2019s attorneys to state by December 20 their position on the special counsel\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

The former Republican president\u2019s historic trial is scheduled to begin in Washington on March 4, 2024.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s lawyers have repeatedly sought to delay the trial until after the November 2024 election including with a claim that a former president enjoys \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d and cannot be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House.<\/p>\n

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over the first ever criminal trial of a former president, rejected the immunity claim on December 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong \u2018get-out-of-jail-free\u2019 pass,\u201d Chutkan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant\u2019s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have appealed Chutkan\u2019s ruling to a federal appeals court.<\/p>\n

Smith is asking the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and take up the case itself on an emergency basis.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018No person is above the law\u2019 \u2013
\nIn his filing, Smith said \u201ca cornerstone of our constitutional order is that no person is above the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe force of that principle is at its zenith where, as here, a grand jury has accused a former President of committing federal crimes to subvert the peaceful transfer of power to his lawfully elected successor,\u201d the special counsel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing could be more vital to our democracy than that a President who abuses the electoral system to remain in office is held accountable for criminal conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Trump spokesperson denounced Smith\u2019s move, saying in a statement there is \u201cno reason to rush this sham to trial except to injure President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, told AFP Smith\u2019s request is a rare procedure but he makes \u201ccompelling arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith essentially contends that the future of the US as a functioning democracy is at stake,\u201d Tobias said.<\/p>\n

Trump was indicted in August for seeking to upend the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden in a concerted effort that led to the violent January 6, 2021 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.<\/p>\n

The former president is accused of seeking to disenfranchise American voters with his false claims he won the election.<\/p>\n

Smith also asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Trump\u2019s prosecution violates constitutional protections against double jeopardy \u2014 being tried twice for the same crime.<\/p>\n

Trump was impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives for \u201cincitement of insurrection\u201d following the attack on the Capitol but was acquitted by the Senate.<\/p>\n

The nine Supreme Court justices are to hold their next conference on whether to accept new cases on January 5. The current court term is scheduled to end in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to rule quickly on whether former president Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution so his trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election can go ahead as scheduled. \u201cThis case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":49402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-foreign-jurisdiction"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t