Former President Donald Trump recently filed a long motion as he requests a hold on an appeals court decision that rejected his claim that presidential immunity prohibits him from being prosecuted over his objections to the 2020 election results.
Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the February 6 ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting his claim of immunity from prosecution.
It is noted in a legal brief, the former president’s lawyers warned that “conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign” against President Biden ahead of the 2024 election.
Trump’s lawyers are requesting the justices to halt the trial proceedings pending their request for the full slate of judges on the D.C. Circuit to reconsider the case. If required, the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The former president was initially slated for a March trial date on charges relating to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 case, though the case has already been removed from the docket. A new trial date has not been posted, nor is one expected until the appeals processes have played out.
The federal government is using a new legal theory to bring felony “obstruction of an official proceeding” charges against hundreds of January 6 defendants. This issue will be heard in the Supreme Court. Half of Smith’s four-count indictment against the former president is also related to election challenges and this new legal theory.
