Special Counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to turn down a request from Donald Trump–whom he is prosecuting on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election–to pause the case while he appeals the question of whether he is immune from charges related to his time in office.
The former president had asked Monday to place the case on hold while he appeals a lower court’s ruling jettisoning his immunity argument earlier this month.
“Delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict—a compelling interest in every criminal case and one that has unique national importance here,” Smith wrote, “as it involves federal criminal charges against a former president for alleged criminal efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, including through the use of official power.”
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In his 40-page filing, Smith told the Supreme Court that the charges “strike at the heart of our democracy” and the “nation has a compelling interest” in seeing them brought to trial.
“And the public interest in a prompt trial is at its zenith where, as here, a former President is charged with conspiring to subvert the electoral process so that he could remain in office,” he wrote.
The special counsel said that, should the Supreme Court take up the question of Trump’s presidential immunity, it should expedite its schedule, setting arguments for next month and issue a ruling “as promptly as possible.”
While Trump filed his emergency appeal of the three-judge D.C. Circuit panel’s unanimous Feb. 6 decision at the last possible second, Smith’s response was filed six days before the deadline set earlier this week by Chief Justice John Roberts, highlighting the special counsel’s sense of urgency in the matter. Trump’s team will likely file their own response in the coming days, with the high court expected to make its decision shortly after.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had originally set Trump’s trial to begin March 4, but she scuttled the date earlier this week, postponing it until the immunity decision is settled.
The criminal case is one of four that Trump is facing as he cruises the campaign trail to an all-but-inevitable Republican presidential nomination.
