WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to stay out of a dispute over whether he can be prosecuted on charges he planned to overturn the 2020 election results.
Special counsel Jack Smith's team last week urged the nation's Supreme Court to consider and expeditiously consider Trump's claims that as a former president he enjoys immunity from prosecution. The unusual request appeared intended to avoid delays that could delay the trial of the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner, currently set to begin on March 4, until after next year's presidential election.
But Trump's lawyers told the Supreme Court there was no reason for them to take up the case now, especially since a lower appeals court in Washington is already considering the same question and has scheduled arguments for Jan. 9.
“Interest does not automatically imply speed. The opposite is usually true. “New, complex, sensitive and historic issues – such as the existence of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions – require more careful deliberation, not less,” Trump's lawyers wrote.
They also said the special counsel's push to quickly bring the case to trial gives the appearance of political motivation: “to ensure that President Trump — the leading Republican candidate for president and the biggest electoral threat to President Biden – will face a month-long criminal trial at the height of his presidential campaign.”
The Supreme Court has indicated that it will decide quickly whether to hear the case, but has not yet said what it will ultimately do.
At issue is Trump's claim that he is entitled to immunity for actions he took as part of his official duties as president. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, rejected that argument earlier this month.
Trump's team then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but Smith took the unusual step of trying to bypass the appeals court — the usual next step in the process — and asking the Supreme Court to hear the case to be treated directly.
“The United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request. This is an extraordinary case,” prosecutors wrote in asking for Supreme Court intervention.
The Supreme Court is expected to soon be asked to rule on a new Trump case with major political implications. Trump's lawyers have vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court a decision that barred him from voting in Colorado on Tuesday under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who has sworn an oath to support the Constitution and then has “revolted” against it, to hold office.