Special counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court on Monday to quickly determine whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution before an appeals court ruling in the matter.
The prosecutor’s filing, which claims precedent from the Nixon Watergate tapes case, indicates Smith is going out of his way to maintain a schedule that would have his 2020 election case in Washington, D.C., against Trump go to trial in March.
“The United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request. This is an extraordinary case. The Court should grant certiorari and set a briefing schedule that would permit this case to be argued and resolved as promptly as possible,” Smith’s team wrote.
In particular, the question Smith wants the high court to answer is, “Whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”
Trump, who was impeached for allegedly encouraging the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, before getting acquitted by the Senate, pleaded not guilty in the federal case in which he is accused of unlawfully plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. His lawyers filed to dismiss the case in October by arguing that Trump’s actions were “within the heartland” of his “official duties.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, rejected Trump’s immunity claims, saying that the defendant’s “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.”
Trump filed an appeal and requested a pause in the proceedings late last week. The response from Smith’s team on Monday included a separate filing to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., seeking expedited proceedings in anticipation of the Supreme Court not agreeing to snap up the case before a ruling at the appellate level.
“A HUGE gambit by Jack Smith. He goes DIRECTLY to the Supreme Court on the immunity issue, while moving for expedited briefing in appeals court,” former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said in a post to X. “He’s inviting trouble but obviously has calculated they’re going to decide whether to take it at some point so might as well be sooner.”
The trial has been set to start on March 4, 2024 — one day before Super Tuesday — which is significant as Trump is running a campaign seeking another term in the White House. Over the course of the case, Trump has been restrained in what he can say about it due to a gag order.
Trump is facing three other criminal cases, including another one led by Smith over the former president’s handling of classified documents, as well as civil litigation. Trump has broadly denied any wrongdoing and has argued that politically motivated prosecutors are conducting a “witch hunt” against him.