Supreme Court sounds conflicted over Trump criminal immunity

“The entire corpus of federal criminal law, including bribery offenses, sedition, murder would all be off limits if it were taken to the total, to the extent that some of the questions have suggested,” Dreeben said.

Barrett at one point questioned the “speed” that Smith has advocated in the case and how the case could proceed without answering whether “official” acts are subject to criminal prosecution.

Dreeben responded that the special counsel would use evidence of Trump’s official acts at trial, such as asking DOJ officials to issue false letters, as evidence of his broader conspiracy, not as crimes themselves.

Last year, the justices turned aside a request from Smith to quickly decide issues in the case. Smith said in court filings a trial could occur as soon as three months after the justices decide the case.

Indictment lingers

Prosecutors unveiled the four-count indictment last year, alleging Trump masterminded a broad effort to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. The indictment accuses Trump of trying to stop vote counting in multiple states, organizing slates of false electors for states he lost and encouraging then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject Electoral College votes for states Trump lost on Jan. 6, 2021.

The case has remained on hold throughout Trump’s appeal. The trial judge in the case, District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, canceled a planned March trial.

Trump’s charges could also be impacted by a second Supreme Court case this term, deciding the breadth of an obstruction of justice statute used in hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions and two of the four charges against Trump.

Trump made multiple arguments around immunity to try and jettison the charges, including that the Senate’s unsuccessful vote to convict him in a February 2021 impeachment trial effectively immunized him from federal charges.

The Supreme Court accepted the case to decide a narrower question: whether the presidency provided any immunity to a former president.

Trump has incorporated his criticism of the case and three other criminal cases against him into his reelection campaign, labeling them “election interference” and vowing retribution if he takes office.

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