Washington, Dec 12 Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the US SC to settle Donald Trump’s claim of executive immunity so that the department can keep the former President’s criminal trial on track for March 04, 2024.
Smith filed motions to SC and a federal appeals court in Washington to settle the question over presidential immunity.
“The United States recognises that this is an extraordinary request. This is an extraordinary case,” Smith said.
He said that the court should grant certiorari and set a briefing schedule that would permit this case.
“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin,” he said.
Some part of Smith’s 81-page motion to the SC details in great length the 1974 case, United States v. Nixon, in which the high court ruled unanimously against Nixon’s attempt to block evidence from being used in a trial by claiming executive authority.
“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Smith said.
He said that respondent’s claims are profoundly mistaken, as the district court held.
“But only this court can definitively resolve them,” he said.
Earlier this month, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the 2020 election interference case, denied Trump's motion to dismiss the indictment on presidential immunity and constitutional grounds.
Trump is facing various cases of election subversion of particular interest is the conspiracy to overturn the verdict of 2020 elections in Washington DC, conspiracy not to count the votes of citizens and a racketeering charge under the RICO act in Fulton , Georgia of intimidating state officials, witnesses and court clerks.
“Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability. Defendants may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office,” wrote Chutkan in her opinion.
Trump and his defense team have since filed an appeal that asks for the case to be put on hold until the D.C. court of appeals reaches a decision.
Smith, in an attempt to keep the trial on schedule, filed to the Supreme Court in addition to the court of appeals on Monday, underscoring the importance of such a question finally being put to rest.
--IANS
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