Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media on the US Department of Justice constructing in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The federal special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to shortly hear an appeal on whether or not he has presidential immunity, to keep away from “undue delay” in holding a trial on prison fees for efforts to undo his defeat within the 2020 election.
“The decision of the query offered is pivotal as to if the previous President himself will stand trial— which is scheduled to start lower than three months sooner or later,” Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith wrote in a brand new submitting with the Supreme Court.
“The public curiosity in a immediate decision of this case favors a direct, definitive determination by this Court,” Smith wrote.” The fees listed below are of the utmost gravity. This case entails — for the primary time in our Nation’s historical past — prison fees in opposition to a former President based mostly on his actions whereas in workplace.”
The submitting got here a day after Trump’s attorneys of their submitting instructed the Supreme Court that it mustn’t instantly take the case, through which they’re interesting a federal trial court docket choose’s ruling in Washington, D.C., that Trump doesn’t have immunity regardless that he was president on the time of the alleged crimes.
Trump’s attorneys argue that their appeal ought to first be heard by the federal appeals court docket in Washington, which at Smith’s request has already expedited proceedings for that bid.
The attorneys instructed in that submitting that Smith had a “partisan motivation” in asking the Supreme Court to avoid regular process and take the appeal with out having a decrease appellate circuit court docket think about it first.
But Smith in his submitting Thursday famous that the case is definite to finish up on the Supreme Court whatever the D.C. circuit court docket’s determination.
“Only this Court can present the ultimate phrase on his immunity protection,” he wrote within the submitting.
“The Nation has a compelling curiosity in a call on respondent’s declare of immunity from these fees—and if they’re to be tried, a decision by conviction or acquittal, with out undue delay,” Smith wrote.
He dismissed claims by Trump’s attorneys about why he was in search of Supreme Court action now, saying they’re “unfounded and incorrect.”
Trump at present is scheduled to face trial within the case in early March. The case has been paused whereas he appeals the denial of his immunity declare.
He has pleaded not responsible in that case, and in three different prison circumstances, all of which he claims are the results of efforts to hurt his possibilities within the 2024 presidential election.
Trump is the present frontrunner within the Republican nomination race.