The decision could affect the scope of US executive branch powers and a host of legal issues facing Trump as he seeks to become president again.
Most constitutional law experts believe Trump will lose in court, but it could contribute to his success in November’s US presidential election.
The fact that the Court’s nine justices are taking up the case means delaying — possibly indefinitely — the start of Trump’s trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump lost that election to current President Joe Biden.
Trump is the first US president to face federal charges, and whether a former US president has immunity from prosecution has yet to be tested in American case law.
“As you know, [tuometinis prezidentas] Richard Nixon violated the criminal law, said James Sample, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University. – But he resigned, oh [jo įpėdinis] Gerald Ford pardoned him, so we never had to deal with the issue of prosecuting the former president.”
Last August, special prosecutor Jack Smith (Jack Smith) filed a case against the 77-year-old D. Trump for conspiracy in the election and wanted the trial to begin in March 2024.
But lawyers for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee have filed multiple requests for adjournments and say Trump has full immunity from prosecution.
Two lower courts flatly rejected that argument, but in February the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
A lower court ruled that Trump’s immunity claim was not supported by precedent or the United States Constitution.
“We cannot accept the fact that the office of the president permanently places the people who previously held it above the law,” the judges said at the time.
Still, Trump hopes his request will be granted. He has appointed three Supreme Court justices, giving a majority to conservatives.
