Trump Prosecutor Urges Supreme Court to Allow Quick Jan. 6 Trial

Greg Stohr
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Special Counsel Jack Smith urged the US Supreme Court to allow a criminal trial of Donald Trump for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, as the prosecutor races the calendar in the run-up to the November presidential vote.

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In a court filing Monday, Smith said the justices should reject Trump’s bid for immunity from prosecution for actions that included a fiery speech to supporters shortly before many of them stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“A bedrock principle of our constitutional order is that no person is above the law — including the president,” Smith argued in a 49-page filing. “Nothing in constitutional text, history, precedent, or policy considerations supports the absolute immunity” Trump is seeking.

Smith needs a clearcut victory — ideally for him a quick one — to have any chance of putting Trump on trial before voters go to the polls on Nov. 5. The high court will hear arguments April 25 and is scheduled to rule before its term concludes at the end of June.

The Supreme Court, which has three Trump-appointed members, in February ordered the prosecution kept on hold for now.

The prosecution is one of four criminal cases Trump faces. Trial is set to start next Monday in a New York state court on allegations that Trump falsified dozens of business records to disguise a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep voters in the 2016 election from hearing her claim about an extramarital affair.

In the Jan. 6 case, Trump’s lawyers contend he can’t be charged because he was acting in his official capacity as president in questioning the 2020 election results. He is asking the Supreme Court to say for the first time that former presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution in at least some circumstances.

Trump has been pushing to delay any trial until after the election as he heads toward a November rematch with President Joe Biden. If Trump becomes president again, he could take the extraordinary step of ordering the Justice Department to drop the case.

A federal appeals court ruled 3-0 that Trump could be prosecuted for allegedly trying to remain in power illegally. The panel said Trump’s claim of immunity would give him “unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power — the recognition and implementation of election results.”

The Supreme Court case is Trump v. United States, 22-939.

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