December 22, 2023
In just one sentence the Supreme Court told Special Counsel Jack Smith – no we will not answer the question — “does former President Donald Trump have absolute immunity from prosecution”? At least not right now.
Here’s the one sentence. Saying the justices will not hear this case. No reason was given.
Now – this doesn’t mean the court will never hear the case – this just means the Supreme Court wants the process to play out in the normal order. So what’s that?
Well in this case –former President Trump has been claiming since he was President during the time that he allegedly committed the crimes charged by the special counsel in the election interference case… he cannot be prosecuted because presidents enjoy “absolute immunity.”
A DC federal judge ruled a few weeks ago there is no such thing as absolute immunity for Trump and he cannot use that defense.
Trump appealed to the Washington DC appeals court.
Jack Smith tried to leap frog that DC appeals court and go straight to the Supreme Court to hear the case – basically cutting out the middle man because this case is going to end up in front of the justices anyway.
But today – the justices said – no. We want this case to go through the normal order which means the federal DC appeals court will hear the case and make a decision and if necessary – they will consider it at that point.
Now – the DC appeals court is already all over this – oral arguments are scheduled for January 9th for trump’s team to argue their case about why Trump should enjoy “absolute immunity” and for jack smith’s team to argue why he should not.
Read the 1 sentence Supreme Court order here.
