U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan recently halted the 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump on Wednesday as the Supreme Court considers whether to honor Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request that it quickly review Trump’s claim to immunity from prosecution via Mediaite.
Fox News’ David Spunt recently explained the reasoning behind and ramifications of Chutkan’s decision on The Story with Martha MaCallum:
This is a big deal because Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge assigned to this case that expected to see this entire trial through with Donald Trump right now has essentially said, “I don’t have jurisdiction any more because this case likely is going to become or come before the U.S. Supreme Court.” The Supreme Court has much more authority than a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., so with an order, Judge Chutkan just announced that she’s putting this on hold right now. That means she’s not going to accept new evidence or new writings or anything else on the public docket, everything freezes in this case.
And, Martha, it’s significant because it could push back the March 4 trial date. That’s one day before Super Tuesday when you look at the court calendar versus the campaign calendar. Donald Trump’s team wants this to be pushed back until after the election. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team actually went directly to the Supreme Court earlier this week and asked them to decide whether or not Donald Trump should be protected by presidential immunity. So while this is going to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court is giving Trump’s team until next Wednesday to give some sort of response. Judge Chutkan has now said, “Listen, the Supreme Court is in charge. I’m going to hold off here.”
But ultimately, if the Supreme Court does not rule in the former president’s favor, it may come right back to Judge Chutkan and we start the process all over again. But this is definitely a delay.
