Trump Asks Supreme Court to Keep DC Election Trial on Hold (2)

Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to keep on hold his criminal trial for trying to overturn the 2020 election while he appeals a ruling that rejected his bid for immunity from prosecution.

Monday’s request, which meets a deadline set by a three-judge panel, brings a second major Trump case before the nation’s highest court as he campaigns to return to the White House. The justices are already considering whether states can bar him from this year’s presidential ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In the new challenge, Trump is trying to halt – and ultimately overturn – a federal appeals court decision that said he could be prosecuted in US district court in Washington for allegedly trying to remain in power illegally. The 3-0 ruling said Trump seeks “unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power — the recognition and implementation of election results.”

Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, would be the first major party candidate to stand criminal trial amid a presidential campaign. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case had been set for trial on March 4, but the date was canceled and hasn’t yet been reset. It’s one of four criminal cases Trump is facing, including a similar election prosecution under state law in Georgia and a case over hush money payments to a porn star that could go to trial as soon as March 25 in Manhattan.

Trump repeatedly has pushed to delay deadlines and argued that trial should wait until after the November 2024 election. A Trump victory in November would let him order the Justice Department to drop the case.

A Supreme Court rejection of Trump’s latest request would let US District Judge Tanya Chutkan set a new trial date.

Trump asked the justices to give him the option of seeking review from a larger panel of judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, rather than going directly to the high court with his appeal.

Trump’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that a trial would be a “grave” violation of the First Amendment rights of the former president and his supporters.

“The special counsel seeks urgently to force President Trump into a months-long criminal trial at the height of campaign season, effectively sidelining him and preventing him from campaigning against the current president to whom the special counsel ultimately reports, President Biden,” according to the filing.

Trump contends he was acting within his official capacity as president during the lead-up to the Capitol assault. He points to a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that said, with regard to civil suits, presidents have complete immunity for actions taken within the “outer perimeter” of their official duties.

Smith previously asked the Supreme Court to take up the criminal immunity issue on an expedited basis. The justices rejected that request in December, instead letting the appeals court address Trump’s arguments first.

The special counsel argued at the time it was “of imperative public importance” that the Supreme Court be the one to resolve Trump’s immunity claims. Those words might complicate any effort by Smith to argue that the high court should now reject Trump’s appeal.

The case is Trump v. US, 23A745.

(Updates with case number in final paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net;
Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Sara Forden

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