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Wants to bring Trump to justice for attempted election fraud: special prosecutor Jack Smith
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J Scott Applewhite / AP
Is Donald Trump protected from prosecution by his presidential immunity? This issue is before the US Supreme Court. The hearings begin in just under two weeks. Special counsel Jack Smith and his team have now filed a brief in which they call on the nine justices of the Supreme Court not to accept Trump's argument that he cannot be held accountable for crimes in office.
"A fundamental principle of our constitutional order is that no one is above the law, not even the president," says the brief that Smith filed on Monday. "The framers of the Constitution never advocated criminal immunity for a former president, and all presidents from the earliest days to modern times have known that they could be held criminally liable for official acts after leaving office."
Trump's lawyers argue that he cannot be legally prosecuted for actions that were part of his duties as president. Without this immunity, presidents could be pressured to make controversial decisions because they could be threatened with future prosecution and imprisonment.
The Supreme Court finally announced that it would address this fundamental question. The outcome of the hearings, which begin on April 25, will likely determine whether there will be a trial against Trump.
The core of special prosecutor Jack Smith's indictment is Trump's alleged attempts to undo his defeat in the 2020 presidential election using all sorts of tricks and attempts at influence. This trial against Trump was originally scheduled to begin in March. But the Supreme Court agreed to hear the ex-president's objections first.
Smith's team now writes in the brief that the court could determine, even without a fundamental decision, that Trump is not entitled to immunity in this particular case. "The finding that the petitioner does not enjoy immunity for the crimes he is accused of would be sufficient to resolve this case."
However, it is unclear how much time there could be between the hearing and a possible start of the trial. Even if the top judges make a quick decision, say in June, the trial in Washington could possibly not begin until September or October, right in the middle of the hot election campaign phase. It remains unclear when a verdict would be expected.
vet/AP