Former US President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Supreme Court to rule on the dispute over whether he may claim immunity from prosecution, CNN reported.
Trump asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a unanimous decision from the DC Circuit handed down last week that rejected his claims of immunity from election subversion charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
“Conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign against President Biden,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in their request.
The DC Circuit’s ruling “threatens immediate irreparable injury to the First Amendment interests of President Trump and tens of millions of American voters, who are entitled to hear President Trump’s campaign message as they decide how to cast their ballots in November,” the attorneys added, according to the CNN report.
How the Supreme Court responds to Trump’s request will have huge influence on whether – and how quickly – the former President will be put on trial for criminal allegations as he seeks the Republican nomination and presidency again.
A panel of three DC Circuit judges set an aggressive timeline for Trump to appeal, nudging him directly to the Supreme Court and effectively requiring him to make his request by Monday.
The fight over Trump’s immunity had already prompted US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to postpone a trial date previously set for March 4.