(HorizonPost.com) – The US Supreme Court finally set the date for oral arguments in Donald Trump’s appeal on the question of whether he is immune from criminal prosecution, the Washington Post reported.
The justices will hear arguments on April 25, the last day of the Supreme Court’s argument calendar, further delaying Trump’s federal election interference trial which was originally scheduled to begin on March 5.
A three-judge panel of the US District Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. in February rejected Trump’s defense that he was immune from criminal prosecution because the actions he took to stop the election of Joe Biden were taken under his duties as President of the United States.
The appellate panel said in its February 6 opinion that while “citizen Trump” was entitled to the same defenses allowed for any criminal defendant, the immunity “that may have protected him” while president no longer protected him from criminal prosecution in the case.
The judge overseeing the election interference trial, District Judge Tanya Chutkin, initially rejected Trump’s claim of immunity in early December, ruling that presidential immunity was not a “lifelong get-out-of-jail-free pass.”
Judge Chutkin put pretrial proceedings on hold until the immunity question was resolved.
The Supreme Court could rule on the matter at any time after oral arguments, with the final decision expected before its current term ends this summer. This would most likely push the election interference trial into late summer or early fall.
However the High Court rules, its decision would also have implications for Trump’s other cases as he has raised the immunity defense in both the federal classified documents case in Florida and the 2020 election interference and racketeering case in Fulton County, Georgia.
Trump, who on Tuesday all but clinched the Republican nomination, has been pushing to delay his trials until after the election, hoping that if he wins in November, the Justice Department would drop the charges against him since its policy is not to prosecute a sitting president.
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