(Daily Caller) The Supreme Court declined special counsel Jack Smith’s request Friday for it to quickly consider a key question in former President Donald Trump’s election interference case without letting the lower court weigh in first.
Smith asked the justices last week to hear former President Donald Trump’s bid to have his election interference case dismissed based on presidential immunity without allowing the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to first consider the issue. In an unsigned order Friday, the justices shot down his request.
District Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to dismiss Trump’s case Dec. 1 in a decision that said the presidency “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.” Trump then appealed her decision to the D.C. Circuit.
The Supreme Court’s decision puts an obstacle in the way of Smith, who has been making every effort to salvage Trump’s scheduled March 4 trial date. Chutkan paused proceedings in Trump’s case pending his appeal of the immunity question.
Trump’s attorneys told the justices in a filing Wednesday that they should reject Smith’s request, which they alleged had a “partisan motivation,” and to not “rush to decide the issues with reckless abandon.”
BREAKING: The Supreme Court denied special counsel Jack Smith’s request for it to decide on former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claim before letting the D.C. Circuit weigh in. pic.twitter.com/FCgzmpnHnz
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) December 22, 2023
