Special counsel Jack Smith’s request to the Supreme Court on Monday thrusts the justices into a highly charged situation with a former president who has repeatedly tried to politicize the federal judiciary and use it for his ends.
As this case tests Smith’s federal prosecution of Donald Trump for election subversion, it will also test America’s high court.
During the Trump tenure, disputes over his administration’s policy and his own business dealings constantly roiled the justices. As Trump challenged the rule of law, he fomented conspiracy theories and engaged in personal attacks. He directed vitriol toward Chief Justice John Roberts and, when he lost a case, the entire bench.
After the 2020 election, the justices rejected baseless Trump-related claims that would have undermined the results that put Joe Biden in the White House.
Now Smith, representing the US government, has asked the justices – six conservatives and three liberals – to step up and to accept immediate responsibility for a question that only they can definitively decide: Is a former president absolutely immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office?
From beginning to end, the Supreme Court’s handling of the case is bound to be closely scrutinized. Public opinion polls show approval of the justices at record lows, as the court has delivered a series of decisions rolling back established precedents and become tangled in ethics controversies.
Five votes would be needed to grant the case directly from a federal trial court, skipping the appellate level, and the individual justices are bound to have varying views regarding the urgency of the matter. Some have distinct relationships with Trump.
He appointed three of the justices, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. A fourth, Clarence Thomas, is linked to Trump…
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