Supreme Court asked to rule on whether Trump can be prosecuted

The US Supreme Court has been asked to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for an alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election results.

Special counsel Jack Smith wants the top court to rule quickly on Mr Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.

The request comes after Mr Trump sought a delay in his trial while an appeals court decides the matter.

The case is currently scheduled to begin on 4 March in Washington DC.

Mr Smith wrote in his petition to the Supreme Court on Monday: “This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”

With this move, Mr Smith is attempting to accelerate the time it takes for the US court system to review the former president’s appeals – a process that can sometimes last for months or even years.

In a brief order, the Supreme Court said it would quickly review Mr Smith’s request and asked Mr Trump’s legal team to file a response by 20 December.

The justices did not however indicate how they would rule on the request.

Ahead of the order, the Trump campaign accused Mr Smith of trying “a Hail Mary by racing to the Supreme Court and attempting to bypass the appellate process”.

“There is absolutely no reason to rush this sham to trial except to injure President Trump and tens of millions of his supporters,” a spokesperson said.

Prosecutors rarely seek the top court’s intervention before a lower appeals court rules on a matter – and Mr Smith’s request reflects the urgency of his case.

If Mr Trump’s appeal delays the trial beyond the November 2024 election, it raises the possibility that the former president could return to the White House before his case is fully resolved.

That would lead to a new round of legal complications.

“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Mr Smith writes.

With only five weeks to go before voting begins in the 2024 Republican primary, Mr Trump is currently polling well ahead of his rivals for the party’s nomination.

But he is also facing multiple legal cases, including a second one brought by Mr Smith which accuses him of mishandling classified material after he left office.

If Mr Trump wins back the White House, he would likely be able to pardon himself in the two cases brought by the special counsel and could force the two state criminal cases against him to be put on hold.

His indictment in Washington charges him with four felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US government.

The ex-president’s lawyers have argued that alleged efforts to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 election fell within his duties as president.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Mr Trump’s trial, rejected that argument in a ruling earlier this month.

“Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time,” Judge Chutkan wrote.

“That position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”

She added that Mr Trump’s presidency “did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens”.

The special counsel’s court filing on Monday follows his previous accusation that Mr Trump is trying to “delay and disrupt” the trial at “every opportunity”.

The federal election case has moved fastest of the four criminal cases against Mr Trump and appears likely to be the first one that will go to trial.