Trump Files Emergency Appeal of Immunity Ruling

Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to extend the delay in his election interference trial, saying he is immune from prosecution on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 election loss. The former president's lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the court on Monday, just four days after the justices heard Trump's separate appeal to remain on the presidential ballot despite attempts to kick him off because of his efforts following his election loss in 2020, the AP reports. "Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist," Trump's lawyers wrote, repeating arguments that have so far failed in federal courts.

The filing keeps on hold what would be a landmark criminal trial of a former president while the nation's highest court decides what to do. It met a deadline to ask the justices to intervene that the federal appeals court in Washington set last week when it rejected Trump's immunity claims and ruled the trial could proceed. The Supreme Court's decision on what to do, and how quickly it acts, could determine whether the Republican presidential primary frontrunner stands trial in the case before the November election. There is no timetable for the court to act, but special counsel Jack Smith's team has strongly pushed for the trial to take place this year. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly sought to delay the case.

If Trump were to defeat President Biden, he could potentially try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases he faces or even seek a pardon for himself. The Supreme Court's options include rejecting the emergency appeal, which would enable US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to restart the trial proceedings in Washington's federal court. The trial was initially scheduled to begin in early March. The court also could extend the delay while it hears arguments on the immunity issue. In that event, the schedule the justices might set could determine how soon a trial might begin, if indeed they agree with lower court rulings that Trump is not immune from prosecution.

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