United States: Trump, the former President, has got a Monday deadline for seeking an extension of the delay getting his trial by the Supreme Court in charges that he had plotted and planned to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Emergency Appeal in the Works
The lawyers of the former President have stated that they will proceed to file emergency appeal with the court only four days after the justices heard his separate appeal for him to remain in the presidential ballot even after the attempts to kick him off the ballot, which were due to his activities following the loss in 2020 presidential election.
The filing would keep an existing standstill on what would be a landmark criminal case of a former president to the U.S. Supreme Court which is yet to decide what to do. The federal appeals court in Washington set the deadline for filing, then it denied the President’s immunity claims, and the judge held that the trial could go ahead, as reported by Associated Press.
The court does not have a set schedule of when it will act; however, the lawyers of special counsel Jack Smith have emphasized a great push for the trial to take place this year. At the same time, Trump has been making an effort to postpone the case. If Trump wins the presidential race against Joe Biden, he might ask the new attorney general appointed to serve under his executive power to drop the pending federal cases against him or even try to get a pardon for himself.
The range of options that the Supreme Court has includes denying the emergency appeal, which will allow the trial proceedings to resume in Washington’s federal court after the U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. The trial was originally slated for the first week of March.
Timing and Implications
The court could also increase the extraordinary stay while it hears the objection. If the justices decide that way, the schedule they might set would be determinative as to when a trial might begin whether they decide to agree with the lower court rulings that Trump is not immune from prosecution.
The course of action and speed at which the Supreme Court takes action could influence whether the front-runner in the Republican presidential primary is tried in this case prior to the November election, as reported by Associated Press.
In December, even before the appeals court weighed in, Smith and his team had urged the justices to take up and decide the immunity issue. “It is of imperative public importance that Respondent’s claim of immunity be resolved by this Court and that Respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” prosecutors wrote in December.
In December, Trump’s legal team blamed partisan motives on the prosecution’s push for prompt trial, which “reflects the evident desire to schedule President Trump’s potential trial during the summer of 2024—at the height of the election season.”
It’s now the court that will decide on justices — (Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh) — appointed when he was President. They have shifted the court to the right in many of the significant rulings that overruled abortion rights, expanded gun rights, and abolished affirmative action in college admissions.
Legal Challenges in Trump’s Former Presidency
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court hasn’t been particularly favorable on the legal matters in direct relation to Trump’s former presidency. The court did not entertain several petitions made by Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. It rejected requests as well to block the release of tax files and other documents to the congressional committees and the New York prosecutors.
Nonetheless, it appeared last week that the justices would put an end to the attempts to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024. Then, a decision might be made at any moment.
President will be immune from civil liability, the Supreme court had previously held this for officials’s acts and Trump’s lawyers demanded this for months that the this protection for Trump should be extended to criminal prosecution as well.
Unanimous Panel Rejects Absolute Immunity Claim
Last week, a unanimous panel of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden and one by a Republican president sharply rejected Trump’s novel claim that former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for actions that fall within their official job duties. It was the second time since December that judges have held that Trump can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when a group of his supporters gathered in the U.S. Capitol.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court made up of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden and one judge by a Republican president spoke with a unanimous voice last week as it rejected a novel claim by Donald Trump that previous presidents are absolutely immune for any actions that are within their official job duties. This was the second such ruling by judges since December, declaring that Trump could be prosecuted for his actions as the head of the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol.
The panel of judges involved in the case included Judges Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs appointed by Biden, a democrat, and Karen LeCraft Henderson who served in the Bench during the administration of George H.W. Bush, a republican.
Multiple Legal Battles for Trump
Smith also filed federal charges against him in Florida, and he is scheduled to go on trial in May for allegedly unlawfully keeping secret materials at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.
He is also accused of plotting to rig the 2020 Georgian election in state court, as well as of paying porn star Stormy Daniels hush money in New York. He has refuted any misconduct.