The Supreme Court will hear the issue of Trump’s presidential immunity on April 25.
It could take months for the Supreme Court to issue a ruling, so special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Trump may or may not begin before the 2024 election.
Supreme Court watchers say the High Court is expected to issue a ruling at the end of June.
Judge Tanya Chutkan indefinitely postponed the March 4 trial date as Trump’s immunity argument makes its way through the courts.
Earlier this month, President Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay its immunity ruling in the January 6 Jack Smith case in Washington.
A federal appeals court full of Biden judges had previously denied immunity to Trump in the DC Jack Smith case.
The three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Trump’s immunity claims: Florence Pan (Biden appointee), Michelle Childs (Biden appointee), and Karen Henderson (George W. Bush appointee).
“We balanced former President Trump’s stated interests in executive immunity with vital public interests favoring the continuation of this prosecution,” the three-judge panel wrote.
“We conclude that ‘public policy concerns, especially as illuminated by our history and the structure of our government’ compel us to reject his request for immunity in this case,” they wrote.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that Trump is immune from federal prosecution for alleged “crimes” committed while he was president of the United States.
“In 234 years of American history, no president has ever been criminally prosecuted for his official acts. Until 19 days ago, no court had ever questioned whether immunity from such prosecution existed,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in filings last month, according to CBS News. “To date, no appeals court has dealt with this. The question ranks among the most complex, intricate and of great importance that this Court will be called upon to decide.”