The Supreme Court has declined to immediately hear former President Donald Trump’s case seeking immunity from prosecution.
The highest court’s decision could delay Trump’s 2020 election interference trial.
Earlier, special counsel Jack Smith asked the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to grant the immunity case a fast-track hearing, bypassing the federal appeals court.
The Supreme Court rejected the request in a brief ruling without providing reasons for its decision.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, rejected his claims of immunity on Dec. 1.
Trump’s lawyers appealed the decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals, and special counsel Smith asked the Supreme Court to step in and hear the case on its own.
Now that the Supreme Court has rejected Smith’s request, the case will be heard by an appeals court, which could force Trump’s March trial to be delayed. The Court of Appeal set January 9 as the date for the parties’ initial submissions.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to delay the landmark trial so that it could be held after the November 2024 election. In particular, they insist that the former president has “absolute immunity” and cannot be prosecuted for actions he committed while in the White House.
Trump, 77, is the favorite to become the official Republican presidential nominee. He was charged in August with seeking to overturn the 2020 election results through a coordinated effort that led to his supporters attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
