China News Service, February 13 (Xinhua) According to US media reports, former US President Trump asked the Supreme Court to suspend a judicial ruling that rejected his claim to enjoy presidential immunity. Trump argued that without such protections, "the presidency as we know it would cease to exist."
On February 6, local time, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of the District of Columbia in Washington, the capital of the United States, ruled that Trump did not have presidential immunity in the case of "attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election."
Data map: Former US President Trump.
Trump has maintained that the president must have full legal immunity to carry out his duties "without fear of retaliation."
The 57-page ruling was suspended until February 12 to give Trump's lawyers time to ask the Supreme Court to suspend the case while they appeal to the Supreme Court.
"A months-long criminal trial against Trump at the height of the election season would fundamentally disrupt his pre-election campaign against Biden," Trump's lawyers wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court. The ability to conduct a campaign.”
They asked the justices to halt proceedings pending their request for the full D.C. Circuit to reconsider the case and, if necessary, appeal to the Supreme Court.
Analysts pointed out that slowing down the case could be beneficial to Trump. If he wins the US presidential election in November and returns to the White House, he can use presidential powers to force an end to prosecutions or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes he has committed.
The Supreme Court's nine justices must now decide whether to accept the case or possibly reject it, which would automatically allow the lower court's ruling to take effect.
The scheduled March 4 date for Trump's trial on four criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith in federal court in Washington, D.C., has been postponed and a new date has not yet been set.
According to reports, with the U.S. presidential election approaching, the time it takes for the Supreme Court to respond will further affect the trial schedule.
While the conservative-majority Supreme Court has three Trump-appointed justices, the justices have sometimes sided against the former president in his various legal disputes or declined to intervene.
Trump, the first former president to be criminally indicted, is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination and is likely to challenge Biden again in the 2024 presidential election.