NOS News•today, 10:30 PM
The US Supreme Court has hinted that it will probably not agree to former President Trump’s immunity claim. Today, the Supreme Court judges for the first time considered a request from Trump, who believes that as a former president he cannot be prosecuted for attempts to manipulate the 2020 election results.
At least five of the nine judges did not seem convinced of the statement that the American president always enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution. Some conservative justices have leaned toward the view that presidents do have some immunity.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that a president cannot function properly if he has to worry about criminal charges, and that politically motivated lawsuits against former presidents become commonplace if a president does not have full immunity.
Election fraud
If the Supreme Court rules that Trump is not completely immune, special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump could proceed. In that case, Trump is suspected of tampering with the results of the presidential election. He lost to Joe Biden, but falsely insisted there was election fraud.
It is one of four ongoing criminal cases against the former president. Trump was not present at the Supreme Court in Washington today because he has to be in New York for a criminal case against him over the payment of hush money to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
Delay
It is unclear when the Supreme Court will issue a ruling. Chief Justice John Roberts said he had “concerns” about an earlier lower court ruling against Trump, which he said was based on flawed arguments. Roberts wondered whether the case should therefore first go back to lower courts.
Such a decision would greatly delay a Supreme Court ruling on the immunity issue. And this makes it very unlikely that Special Prosecutor Smith’s criminal case will start before the November presidential elections. Trump benefits from this as the only remaining Republican presidential candidate.
The special prosecutor had actually asked the Supreme Court to reach a decision quickly.
