2023-12-12 06:13:31
The timing of the trials targeting the ex-president is of capital importance in the race for the White House. Federal prosecutor Jack Smith on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to rule urgently on Donald Trump’s immunity request to prevent the ex-president from derailing his trial schedule for the 2020 election.
The lawyers of the favorite of the Republican primaries systematically demand that his various trials be held as late as possible, and in any case after the presidential election of November 2024. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the debates at the federal trial of Donald Trump for his alleged illicit attempts to reverse the result of the 2020 election, rejected his request for immunity on December 1, considering that no text protected a former president against criminal prosecution.
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But the appeal by his lawyers, filed on December 7, “suspends the proceedings” against him, indicates special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is investigating the case, in his request for direct referral to the Supreme Court. However, “if the appeal procedure took place according to the ordinary rhythm of the Court of Appeal, a final decision could not come for many months”, while the trial must begin on March 4, 2024, underlines- he. “It is fundamental to the public interest that the defendant’s request for immunity be resolved as expeditiously as possible – and if he does not have immunity, that he be tried in a fair and speedy trial,” pleads the special prosecutor. This is an “exceptional request”, he concedes, adding: “It is an exceptional file”.
Jurisprudence Nixon
Accordingly, Jack Smith is asking the Supreme Court to take up the matter and schedule a hearing at short notice to hear the arguments of both parties in order to be able to rule by the end of its session, which ends on 30 June. “Although no precedent supports the defendant’s claim to criminal immunity as a former president, the State recognizes that this Court has never ruled” on this subject, he adds.
At the same time, the prosecutor specifies that he is submitting a request for emergency review to the Court of Appeal, in the event that the nine judges of the Supreme Court, six appointed by Republican presidents and three by Democrats, reject his request. Donald Trump’s lawyers say he has “absolute immunity” for his actions while in the White House. They cite Supreme Court case law from 1981 concerning civil suits against former President Richard Nixon.
They also argue that due to his acquittal during the parliamentary impeachment proceedings against him for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by hundreds of his supporters trying to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election, he cannot be judged for his maneuvers to reverse the results.
In her decision, Judge Chutkan concluded that the Nixon precedent did not apply to criminal proceedings against a former president, and that impeachment proceedings do not constitute a criminal trial. “The defendant’s four years as commander-in-chief did not confer upon him the divine right of kings to escape the criminal liability to which his fellow citizens are subject,” she said.
Donald Trump is also being prosecuted by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for related acts of electoral interference, and will also have to answer in federal court for his alleged negligent management of confidential documents after his departure from the White House. Campaigning to retake the White House, Trump attributes his legal troubles to the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, whom he could find on his way in 2024 for a revenge of the 2020 election.
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