In a recent development, the special counsel pursuing federal criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election has filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. The counsel is urging the justices to reject Trump’s request for immunity from prosecution, emphasizing the principle that “no person is above the law.”
The case is scheduled to be argued before the justices on April 25. Trump is appealing a lower court’s decision to deny his request for immunity in the criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, citing his tenure as president during the actions in question.
Smith, in his final filing before the arguments, highlighted that Trump’s alleged actions leading to the charges, if proven, would constitute “an unprecedented assault on the structure of our government.”
According to Smith, “The effective functioning of the presidency does not necessitate immunity for a former president from accountability for alleged violations of federal criminal law.” He underscored that the fundamental principle of the constitutional order is that no individual, including the president, is exempt from the law.
As the first former president to face criminal prosecution, Trump is the Republican candidate challenging current Democratic President Joe Biden in the upcoming U.S. election on November 5. Trump has maintained his innocence in this case and the three other criminal cases against him, characterizing them as politically driven.
Trump contends that a former president should have “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts” and warned that without such immunity, the prospect of future prosecution and imprisonment could be used as a political tool to influence pivotal presidential decisions.
In August 2023, Smith brought forth four federal criminal charges against Trump in connection to election subversion, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing the certification of Biden’s electoral victory by Congress, and conspiring to act against Americans’ voting rights.
A group of 19 retired four-star U.S. military officers and former high-ranking national security officials, including retired Army Generals Peter Chiarelli and George Casey, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, and former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, supported Smith’s stance in a friend-of-court brief. They denounced Trump’s claim of presidential immunity as “contrary to the foundational principles of our democracy.”
The former officials cautioned that accepting Trump’s theory could undermine America’s reputation as a defender of democracy globally and fuel the spread of authoritarianism, posing a threat to U.S. national security and democracies worldwide.
The Supreme Court’s decision to deliberate on Trump’s immunity appeal in late April led to a postponement of his trial, giving Trump leverage as he seeks to delay legal actions while campaigning for reelection.
Trump’s attempt to have the charges dismissed last October based on his immunity claim was rejected by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in December. Upon appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 3-0 against Trump’s immunity argument on February 6.
Trump and his supporters propagated false allegations of electoral fraud in the 2020 election and devised a plan to employ fake electors to obstruct Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory. Trump also pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the certification process. On January 6, 2021, Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to prevent the certification.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
