Due to his criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump will not attend SCOTUS oral arguments about presidential immunity
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether former President Donald Trump’s special counsel, Jack Smith, is immune from prosecution in the election meddling case.
The high court agreed to review whether Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has immunity from prosecution.
Arguments in the Supreme Court are scheduled to begin at 10 am on Thursday, but the former president will not attend the hearing.
Instead, Trump will be in New York City for the seventh day of his criminal trial on charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation. In the first degree, Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump, a criminal defendant, must appear every day of his trial. He requested that the Supreme Court attend arguments on presidential immunity, but Judge Juan Merchan, who presides over the hearing, denied that request.
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“Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I certainly appreciate why your client wants to be there, but a trial before the New York Supreme Court is also a big deal,” Merchan said last week, adding that the former president should be in his Manhattan courtroom.
The verdict on the issue of presidential immunity is likely to come out from the Supreme Court by the end of June.
Trump’s criminal investigation stemming from the Smith investigation has been put on hold until the matter is resolved.
The former president and his legal team, requesting the Supreme Court to review the issue of presidential immunity, said, “If the prosecution of a president is upheld, such prosecutions will be repeated and lead to destructive cycles.”
“Criminal prosecution, with its stigma and more severe penalties, imposes far more ‘personal vulnerability’ on the president than any civil penalty,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “The threat of future criminal prosecution by a politically opposed administration overshadows the official actions of every future president — especially the most politically controversial decisions.”
In Trump’s request, the president’s “political opponents seek to influence and control his or her decisions through effective extortion or blackmail, threats, express or implied, of indictment by a hostile administration in the future for actions that do not warrant such prosecution. .”
Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct official process; obstructing and attempting to obstruct official process; and conspiracy against rights. The allegations stem from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and any alleged interference in the results of the 2020 election.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in August.
“Without Presidential Immunity, it would be impossible for the President to function properly, placing the United States of America in great and perpetual peril!” Trump posted his truth social last week in all caps. “If they take away my presidential immunity, they take away Crooked Joe Biden’s presidential immunity.”
In another post, Trump argued that if the president doesn’t have immunity, “the opposing party, during his/her term, can coerce and blackmail the president by saying, ‘If you don’t give us everything we want.’ Although perfectly legal and appropriate.”
“That’s the end of the presidency and our country as we know it, and it’s one of the many pitfalls of a president without presidential immunity,” Trump posted.
Referring to his presidential predecessor and 2020 and 2024 opponent Biden, Trump said: “Obama, Bush and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, are all going to be in big trouble.”
“If a president doesn’t have immunity, he/she is nothing more than a ‘party’ president, rarely able to do what needs to be done for our country,” Trump continued, calling for presidential immunity to be protected. “Make America Great Again!”
If the president is not granted immunity, Trump said, “Every president who leaves office will be immediately impeached by the opposing party.”
“Without full immunity, the president of the United States cannot function properly,” he reiterated.
This is the second time the Supreme Court has heard a case involving a Republican presidential nominee.
Last month, the Supreme Court unanimously sided with Trump’s challenge to Colorado’s attempt to eliminate the 2024 primary ballot.
The high court ruled in favor of Trump’s arguments in the case, which could affect the status of efforts in several other states to remove the potential GOP nominee from their respective ballots.
The Court considered for the first time the meaning and scope of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars former officeholders “engaged in rebellion” from holding public office again. More than 30 states have filed challenges to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot.
In an exclusive interview with US Newzs Digital after the ruling, Trump returned to the issue of presidential immunity.
“The decision they will soon make on presidential immunity is equally important to our country — without it, the presidency will be little more than a ceremonial position, far from what the Founders intended,” Trump told US Newzs Digital. “No president can function properly and effectively without full and absolute immunity.”
He said that our country will be in great danger.