Trump Urges Supreme Court Not to Fast-Track DC Immunity Claim

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump said the US Supreme Court should hold off on intervening in the federal criminal case against him over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Vilified Zero-Day Options Blamed by Traders for S&P Decline

• Harvard Financial Pain Grows as Blavatnik Joins Donor Revolt

• Giuliani Files for Bankruptcy After $148 Million Defamation Loss

• US Inflation Report to Show Fed’s Battle Is Now All But Complete

• Bull Run Steams Ahead Before Key Inflation Data: Markets Wrap

Trump urged the court on Wednesday to reject Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request for fast-track consideration of the former president’s claim of immunity from prosecution. Smith, seeking to ensure the trial can start on March 4, is asking the justices to directly review a federal trial judge’s rejection of immunity, without waiting for an appeals court to rule.

“The special counsel identifies no compelling reason for the extraordinary haste he proposes,” Trump’s lawyers argued.

Read more: Trump, the 14th Amendment and More Legal Tests Ahead: QuickTake

The clash is the first to land at the Supreme Court in the four pending criminal prosecutions of Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The high court could say as soon as this week whether it will take up the case immediately.

The Supreme Court is also about to become enmeshed in efforts to bar Trump from the 2024 ballot. His campaign plans to appeal Wednesday’s Colorado Supreme Court decision declaring him ineligible to be president again because he engaged in insurrection by inciting rioters to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In the Washington criminal case, Trump had asked a federal judge to toss the charges on the basis that it was part of his job as president to ensure election integrity. The judge denied that request and Trump appealed.

In a filing Monday, Smith told the justices that “it is of imperative public importance” they resolve the issue as quickly as possible. He said the Washington trial can’t start until Trump’s appeal is resolved.

In ruling against Trump Dec. 1, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote that his “four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”

Trump’s appeal of Chutkan’s ruling is simultaneously moving ahead on an expedited schedule at a federal appeals court in Washington, with arguments planned for Jan. 9 in case the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene. Should the justices turn Smith down, they will have another chance early next year after the appeals court rules.

Trump repeatedly has pushed to delay deadlines and unsuccessfully argued not schedule any trial until after the November 2024 election.

The case is United States v. Trump, 23-624.

--With assistance from Sabrina Willmer.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• One Man’s Longevity Obsession Now Includes Fountain-of-Youth Injections

• The Most Secretive Longevity Lab Finally Opens Its Doors

• What Dermatologists Really Think About Those Anti-Aging Products

• Michael J. Fox and Sergey Brin Take Their Push for a Parkinson’s Cure to the Next Level

• Musk’s AI Chatbot ‘Grok’ Is Weirdly Good After All

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.