Former President faces a Monday deadline for asking the to extend the delay in his trial on
His lawyers have indicated they will file an emergency appeal with the court, just four days after the justices heard Trump鈥檚 separate despite attempts to kick him off because of his efforts following his election loss in 2020.
The filing would preserve a delay on what would be a landmark criminal trial of a former president while the nation鈥檚 highest court decides what to do. The federal appeals court in Washington set the deadline for filing when it rejected Trump鈥檚 immunity claims last week and ruled the trial could proceed.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 decision on what to do, and how quickly it acts, could determine whether the Republican presidential primary front-runner stands trial in the case before the November election.
There is no timetable for the court to act, but 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 Joe 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鈥檚 options include rejecting the emergency appeal, which would enable to restart the trial proceedings in Washington鈥檚 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.
In December, Smith and his team had urged the justices to take up and decide the immunity issue, even before the appeals court weighed in. 鈥淚t is of imperative public importance that Respondent鈥檚 claim of immunity be resolved by this Court and that Respondent鈥檚 trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,鈥� prosecutors wrote in December.
Trump鈥檚 legal team has ascribed partisan motives to the prosecution鈥檚 push for a prompt trial, writing in December that it 鈥渞eflects the evident desire to schedule President Trump鈥檚 potential trial during the summer of 2024鈥攁t the height of the election season.鈥�
Now it鈥檚 up to a court on which three justices, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were appointed by Trump when he was president. They have moved the court to the right in major decisions that , and in college admissions.
But the Supreme Court hasn鈥檛 been especially friendly to Trump on legal matters directly concerning the former president. The court declined to take up several appeals filed by Trump and his allies related to the 2020 election. It also refused to prevent tax files and other documents from being turned over to congressional committees and prosecutors in New York.
Last week, however, the justices did seem likely to end the efforts to prevent Trump from being on the 2024 ballot. A decision in that case could come any time.
The Supreme Court has previously held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Trump鈥檚 lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to as well.
Last week, a unanimous panel of two judges appointed by President Joe Biden and one by a Republican president sharply rejected Trump鈥檚 novel claim that former presidents enjoy absolute immunity for actions that fall within their official job duties. It was the held that Trump can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The case was argued before Judges Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs, appointees of Biden, a Democrat, and Karen LeCraft Henderson, who was named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican.
The case in Washington is one of Trump faces as he seeks to reclaim the White House. He faces federal charges in Florida that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a case that was also brought by Smith and is set for trial in May.
He鈥檚 also charged in state court in Georgia with scheming to subvert that state鈥檚 2020 election and in New York in connection with hush money payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He has denied any wrongdoing.
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