Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on former President Trump‘s argument that he has presidential immunity from the federal indictment accusing him of criminal conspiracies to subvert the 2020 election results.
“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy,” Smith wrote in his filing, “whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”
Trump has also argued the case against him violates his protection against double jeopardy because the Senate acquitted him in the impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Smith is asking the justices to decide the matter before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Trump’s appeal of a lower court’s rejection of his immunity argument. The trial is set to begin March 4.
The federal case into Trump’s actions around the 2020 election is one of four criminal cases involving the former president and the first to go to trial, according to current court schedules. Read more here.
