Fresh off his Supreme Court victory, Donald Trump’s legal team filed its opening brief Saturday night with an appeals court, seeking to overturn his federal election subversion charge with claims of presidential immunity.
In a filing filed Saturday night, Trump’s team effectively argued that courts cannot hold him accountable for the performance of his official duties while president and thus his four-count indictment for alleged subversion in the U.S. election. 2020 must be discarded.
“President Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution for his official acts as president. “The indictment alleges only official acts, so it must be dismissed,” Trump attorney John Sauer wrote in a lengthy brief to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Friday, the Supreme Court refused to fast-track the case and skip the appeals court, marking a significant victory for Trump.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the high court to expedite consideration of the matter, arguing that the Supreme Court was always going to have the final say because the eventual ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals would almost certainly be challenged by either. . parties.
The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for why it did not grant Smith’s request for a “writ of certiorari” to expedite consideration of the matter.
Donald Trump’s legal team maintains that he should be immune from prosecution related to his actions as president. AP
Smith wanted to avoid delaying Trump’s trial, which had been set for March 4, 2024, a day before the Super Tuesday contest, in which 16 states hold primaries or caucuses.
Concerns that delaying the electoral subversion case could benefit Trump were largely unspoken.
If he buys time and then regains the presidency in 2024, convicting him of the charges may be futile, given the president’s pardon power and protection from prosecution while in office.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the four-count indictment against Trump in the subversion case, rejected requests for presidential immunity earlier this month and ruled that the 77-year-old was not entitled to a “release from prison.” forever”. Free pass.”
That led Trump’s lawyers to file an appeal with the D.C. court, which then triggered Smith’s failed attempt to reach the Supreme Court.
Chutkan has paused “any further proceedings that may move this case toward trial” amid the appeal.
Donald Trump’s poll numbers have skyrocketed since his criminal allegations began to emerge in March. AP
Trump’s claims about presidential immunity touch on a largely unproven and highly debatable area of constitutional law.
Sauer took note of Trump’s impeachment that occurred in the wake of the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and suggested that prosecuting him for those actions now amounts to “double jeopardy,” referencing a clause in the Fifth Amendment. that prevents people from being prosecuted. twice for the same crime.
“A President who is acquitted by the Senate cannot be prosecuted for the acquitted conduct. “The clear meaning of the Clause, its historical context, and the decisive weight of authority of key commentators confirm that a single unelected prosecutor lacks the authority to question the judgment of the United States Congress,” Sauer wrote.
Just over a week into his presidency in 2021, Trump was impeached and later acquitted of incitement of insurrection.
Smith’s four-count indictment against Trump largely focuses on a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding on January 6, 2021, and coinciding legal schemes to thwart the election.
Jack Smith’s team does not believe Donald Trump should be granted legal immunity and rejects the idea that the prosecution against him focuses on his official duties as president. AP
Prosecutors have previously refuted the idea that Trump’s election machinations, such as his allies’ attempts to provide slates of alternative electors or his directive to then-Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the election, were part of his official duties as president.
Given the time sensitivity of the case, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals set oral arguments in the matter for January 9, 2024.
The briefs must be submitted before January 2, 2024.
If Trump is found to have presidential immunity, that could also have a domino effect on his 13-count election tampering case in Georgia.
If legal disputes over presidential immunity delay the 2020 federal subversion case, then Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump could become the first of his four indictments to go to trial.
The Supreme Court finds itself in the political crosshairs ahead of the 2024 election, forced to answer multiple controversial legal questions about Donald Trump. REUTERS
The trial is currently scheduled to begin on March 25, 2024. The case features 34 counts of allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush payments intended to conceal damaging information about him.
Trump faces a total of 91 criminal charges spanning four indictments. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing in all of them.
The courts are set to address a host of questions about Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
Last Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the Republican Party primaries, a decision his campaign vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn