By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court faces a major test of the presidency’s power on Thursday in arguments over Donald Trump‘s request for immunity from prosecution over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The justices will hear Trump’s appeal at 10 a.m. EDT (2 p.m. GMT) after lower courts rejected his request to be shielded from four election-related criminal charges on the grounds that he was serving as president when he took the actions that led to the resulting indictment. by a special counsel Jac Smith.
Trump, the Republican candidate challenging the Democratic candidate President Joe Biden in the November 5 election, he will be the first former US president to face criminal charges.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in this case and in three other criminal cases he faces, including an ongoing trial on New York state charges related to hush money paid to a porn star shortly before the 2016 U.S. election that put him in the White House . Trump will not attend the Supreme Court oral arguments because he will be in a Manhattan courtroom for that case.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority consists of three justices appointed by Trump: Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
The court has already awarded Trump a major victory this year in his bid to regain the presidency. On March 4, it overturned a court decision that had barred him from voting in Colorado under a constitutional provision involving insurrection for inciting and supporting his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Not since the landmark Bush v. Gore ruling, which handed the disputed 2000 U.S. election to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, has the Court played such an integral role in a presidential race.
Trump has taken numerous steps to reverse his 2020 loss to Biden. His false claims of widespread voter fraud contributed to the attack on the Capitol on the day Congress met to certify Biden’s victory. Trump and his allies also devised a plan to use fake electors from key states to thwart certification.
The August 2023 indictment described Trump as “determined to remain in power” despite his election loss. Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding and conspiring to do so, and conspiring against Americans’ right to vote.
‘ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY’
Trump’s lawyers told the judges in a filing that a former president has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for his official actions.” Without such immunity, they said, “the threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would become a political cudgel to influence the most sensitive and controversial presidential decisions.”
Smith urged the justices in a filing to reject Trump’s request for immunity from prosecution based on the principle that “no one is above the law.”
Trump tried to have the charges dismissed in October 2023 based on his claim of immunity. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected that claim in December. Smith then asked the justices to initiate an expedited review of the immunity claim, a request they denied. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 3-0 in February against Trump’s appeal of Chutkan’s ruling.
The Supreme Court’s decision to postpone the immunity hearing until this month postponed Trump’s trial, which was scheduled to begin in March. Legal experts have said the justices must rule by June 1 for Trump’s trial to take place before the election.
A ruling is expected by the end of June, which could force Chutkan to decide whether to start a trial in September or October, when early voting is already underway in some states.
If Trump regains the presidency, he could try to end the prosecution or possibly pardon himself for any federal crimes.
Trump also faces election subversion charges in state court in Georgia and federal charges in Florida filed by Smith related to his retention of classified documents after his term.
(Reporting by John Kruzel and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone)
