Special counsel Jack Smith is on a full court press — at the trial, appellate and Supreme Court levels to try and keep Donald Trump’s case on track for a March trial in Washington, or at least to try and keep any delay to a minimum. There are multiple moving parts to this litigation, so here’s the state of play in the federal election interference case.
As a reminder, this latest litigation stems from Trump’s appeal of his immunity and double jeopardy claims that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected earlier this month and is now pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Smith’s strategy appears to be one of firing on all judicial cylinders.
At the trial level, Smith’s Sunday filing urged Chutkan to do everything she can to keep the March date, in the face of Trump claiming that the case is essentially frozen until his immunity and double jeopardy appeal is resolved. The Justice Department suggested the judge can “make headway” on Trump motions unrelated to the issues pending at the D.C. Circuit, where Smith also wants that appellate court to expedite the litigation there.
As it stands now, it’s unclear when the D.C. Circuit ruling will come, and Trump’s trial can’t proceed until the appeal is resolved — of course, if it’s resolved in Trump’s favor then there’s nothing to try, though his arguments aren’t strong, so the bigger question seems to be when the justice system decides his claims, not how.
On that note, apparently not content to wait on the D.C. Circuit, Smith has now also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in on an expedited basis, invoking a mechanism that calls on the justices to decide an appeal before it’s been settled in the lower courts.
“It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected,” Smith said in a petition filed…
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