Former President Donald Trump made his final pitch Thursday to the Supreme Court in his bid to pause a trial over the 2020 election subversion charges brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith.
“There are overwhelming reasons why the case should not go to trial ‘in three months or less,’” Trump told the Supreme Court in a 16-page filing, rebuking Smith’s “generic statements” about pushing for the trial to begin months before the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is the leading Republican candidate.
“With any other defendant, it would be virtually unthinkable for the case to go to trial so soon, and ‘wildly unfair’ to do so,” Trump’s lawyers argued.
Trump contends former presidents should have immunity from charges over actions they took in office and has said that Congress must secure a conviction during the impeachment process in order for any former president to face criminal charges in a court of law. So far, two lower federal courts have disagreed with that legal argument.
Meanwhile, Smith told the high court on Wednesday that it should not extend the delay on Trump’s pretrial proceedings before U.S. District Court Tanya Chutkan, who lacks jurisdiction while the immunity dispute is being appealed.
The former president’s counsel also highlighted that back in December, Smith urged the Supreme Court to weigh the presidential immunity dispute in a bid to leapfrog the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — but is now arguing that the justices should not take up the issue because it would result in a trial delay.
“He provides no convincing reason to deny the requested stay,” Trump’s counsel wrote. “The stay requested by President Trump should be granted.”
Trump’s team also suggests that Smith’s sentiment that the trial could begin in about three months if the Supreme Court declined to stay the lower court’s ruling against him is flatly unjust given the size of the Justice Department’s discovery in the 2020 election subversion case.
“The case involves almost 13 million pages of discovery, thousands of hours of video footage, and hundreds of potential witnesses. With any other defendant, it would be virtually unthinkable for the case to go to trial so soon, and ‘wildly unfair’ to do so,” Trump’s counsel argued.
Trump is asking the high court to decide whether presidents enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution for acts conducted within the “outer perimeter” of their official duties. He is also asking the justices to weigh whether the notion of double jeopardy should block a prosecution if that president has been impeached and acquitted by the Senate for the same allegations.
The Supreme Court’s options could include rejecting Trump’s emergency appeal, which would allow Chutkan to restart the trial proceedings in Washington’s federal court. The trial was initially slated to begin in early March.
Justices could also extend that delay while they hear arguments on the immunity dispute, given the unprecedented nature of the request.
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The D.C. Circuit panel that ruled against Trump, composed of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden and one appointed by a Republican president, firmly rejected his claim earlier this month that former presidents can have absolute immunity for actions that fall within their duties. That decision came nearly a month after the panel heard oral arguments over the dispute.
The high court could within the next few days decide on Trump’s bid to have them take up the case, which would extend the delay in his criminal trial.