The presidential immunity defense has stalled the case for nearly three months and will miss the originally scheduled March 4 trial date.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari of former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claim in the federal criminal case charging him for actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
The presidential immunity defense has stalled the case for nearly three months and will miss the originally scheduled March 4 trial date.
The high court’s decision automatically stays lower courts from moving forward in the case.
The court also granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request that President Trump’s petition for a stay be treated as a petition for review.
“The case will be set for oral argument during the week of April 22,” the order reads.
The parties have been instructed to limit arguments to the question: “Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”
The Supreme Court’s framing combines the various questions the former president and special counsel had presented to the court.
Prosecutors argued that presidents enjoy no immunity from criminal prosecution, while defense attorneys argued that official acts of a president during his tenure are protected by presidential immunity.
Timeline
President Trump had originally filed a motion to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity last year.
When U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected the motion in December, the defense took the case to appeals court, putting the pretrial schedule in limbo.
A federal appeals court panel rejected this defense on Feb. 6, and in an atypical order withheld its mandate on the condition that President Trump take his case to the Supreme Court by Feb. 12.
Normally, the appellants would be allowed to petition for a rehearing with the whole bench of the appeals court, which might have drawn out the process for a few more months. The appeals panels expressly ordered that a rehearing petition would not stay the case.
