Following his Supreme Court victory, Donald Trump’s legal team made its opening briefs late Saturday to the appeals court, seeking to overturn his federal election subversion claims with claims of presidential immunity.
In a filing late Saturday, Trump’s team effectively argued that the court cannot hold him accountable for carrying out his official duties while president, and therefore, his four-count indictment for alleged subversiveness of the 2020 election must be thrown out.
“President Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution for his official actions as President. The indictment alleges only official action, so it must be dismissed,” Trump attorney John Sauer wrote in a lengthy brief to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Friday, the Supreme Court refused to fast-track the case and jumped over the appeals court, marking an important victory for Trump.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the high court to expedite consideration of the matter, arguing that the Supreme Court will always have the final say because the DC Circuit Court of Appeals’ final decision will almost certainly be challenged by one of the two. parties.
The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation as to why it did not grant Smith’s request for a “writ of certiorari” to expedite consideration of the matter.
Donald Trump’s legal team has argued that he should be immune from prosecution related to his actions as president. AP
Smith wants to avoid delaying Trump’s trial — which has been set for March 4, 2024, the day before the Super Tuesday contest — where 16 states hold either primaries or caucuses.
Largely unspoken is the concern that delaying the election subversive case could benefit Trump.
If he buys time and then recaptures the presidency in 2024, convicting him on those charges may be pointless, given the president’s pardon power and immunity from prosecution while in office.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s four-count indictment in the subversion case, rejected the president’s immunity claim earlier this month and ruled that the 77-year-old was not entitled to “get out of prison for life – PAS free.”
That prompted Trump’s lawyers to file an appeal in a DC court, which then sparked Smith’s unsuccessful bid to be dragged to the Supreme Court.
Chutkan has put “any further proceedings that would move this case toward trial” on hold amid the appeal.
Donald Trump’s poll numbers have soared since his criminal allegations began to surface in March. AP
Trump’s claim of presidential immunity rests on an untested and highly debatable area of constitutional law.
Sauer noted Trump’s impeachment following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots and suggested that his prosecution for those actions now amounts to “double jeopardy” — referencing the clause in the Fifth Amendment that prevents individuals from being prosecuted. twice for the same crime.
“A President acquitted by the Senate cannot be prosecuted for the acquitted conduct. The Clause’s clear meaning, its historical context, and the decisive weight of authority from key commentators all confirm that an unelected prosecutor has no power to second-guess the decisions of the US Congress,” Sauer wrote.
With just over a week left before the presidency in 2021, Trump was charged and then acquitted of sedition.
Smith’s four-count indictment against Trump largely centers on conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings on January 6, 2021, and a coincidental legal scheme to derail the election.
Jack Smith’s team doesn’t think Donald Trump should get legal immunity and rejects the notion that the charges against him center on his official duties as president. AP
Prosecutors have previously resisted the notion that Trump’s election gimmicks — such as his allies’ bid to provide alternative voter lists or his instructions to then-Vice President Mike Pence to certify the election — were part of his official duties as president.
Given the time sensitivity of the case, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals set oral arguments in the matter for January 9, 2024.
The brief must be filed no later than January 2, 2024.
If Trump is found to have presidential immunity, that could have a ripple effect on his 13 counts of Georgia election interference as well.
If legal wrangling over presidential immunity delays the 2020 federal subversion case, then Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money case against Trump could be the first of his four indictments to go to trial.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin on March 25, 2024. The case features 34 counts of allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments intended to conceal damaging information about him.
Trump faces a total of 91 criminal charges including four counts. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in all of them.
The Supreme Court finds itself in a political mess ahead of the 2024 election, having to answer a range of controversial legal questions about Donald Trump. Reuters
The court is poised to grapple with multiple Trump questions ahead of the 2024 election.
Last Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from the GOP primary – a decision his campaign promised to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
