Presidential Immunity: Supreme Court Takes Up Trump’s Claim Of Absolute Immunity From Prosecution

By Amy Howe\SCOTUSblog Photos: Facebook\YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be tried on criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In a one-page unsigned order, the justices ordered a federal appeals court to continue to keep on hold its ruling rejecting Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution, and they fast-tracked the case for oral argument in late April. Trump was indicted in Aug. 2023 on four counts arising from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan originally set a trial date of Mar. 4, 2024, for Trump’s case. But in early February, she threw that date out and indicated that she would set a new one “if and when” Trump’s immunity claims are resolved. Chutkan had denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against him on the ground that he is immune from prosecution. Smith came to the Supreme Court in December, asking the justices to review that decision without waiting for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to weigh in on Trump’s appeal, but...