Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 8, 2024.
Joe Radle | Getty Images
Lawyers for Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily halt the trial. ruling He rejected his claim that he would be immune from criminal charges for trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
“Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the office of president as we know it would cease to exist,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a petition asking the Supreme Court to suspend the lower court’s ruling.
Last Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., unanimously rejected Trump’s claim that he would not be prosecuted for any official actions he took as president.
The ruling ends President Trump’s efforts to dismiss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case and restart proceedings in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
But the committee put the 57-page ruling on hold until Monday, giving Trump’s lawyers time to ask the Supreme Court to suspend the case while they appeal to the nation’s highest court.
On Monday afternoon, in applying for a stay, the high court ruled that it “once again avoids an unprecedented and impermissible departure from normal appellate procedures, allowing President Trump’s immunity claims to fall within the normal course of justice.” We should allow it to be decided.”
President Trump’s request for a stay puts the case on hold, at least until the Supreme Court decides whether to grant the request. Individual judges can make that decision.
The nine-member Supreme Court includes three justices appointed under the Trump administration, but Chief Justice John Roberts, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was appointed to handle matters from D.C. has been done.
Trump is trying to delay several criminal and civil lawsuits in the run-up to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He is now the Republican Party’s clear front-runner, making a rematch with President Joe Biden increasingly likely.
Last week’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that rejected President Trump’s claim of “absolute” executive privilege.
Protesters demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on February 8, 2024.
Julia Nickinson | Getty Images
“For the purposes of this criminal proceeding, former President Trump has assumed all defense representation for other criminal defendants,” wrote appellate judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Michelle Childs, and Florence Pan in their ruling. He became a citizen.”
“However, the executive privileges that may have protected him during his time as president no longer protect him from this prosecution,” they ruled.
Trump’s lawyers argue that the Constitution’s separation of powers principles prevent courts from reviewing the president’s official actions. They also argued that the same doctrine required immunity to avoid interfering with the functioning of the executive branch.
The Court of Appeals rejected these arguments.
“Fundamentally, former President Trump’s stance would put the president beyond the reach of all three branches and disrupt the separation of powers,” the justices ruled.
They also rejected as “absurd” President Trump’s argument that the Constitution only allows charges if the former president is impeached and convicted by Congress.
Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives while in office, but the Senate voted to acquit him both times. A majority of senators voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial on charges of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, but the two-thirds required It didn’t arrive.
Mr. Smith in the Washington, D.C. election case is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States by attempting to overturn the 2020 results and conspiracy to prevent Congress from certifying Mr. Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021. Trump has been indicted on four criminal charges, including:
Trump has pleaded not guilty to these charges and dozens more in three other ongoing criminal cases, which are part of a plot by the Biden administration to harm him politically. claims.
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— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.