The topic of presidential immunity will come before the Supreme Court with arguments starting Thursday morning.
The court will ultimately decide whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution. The case revolves around the election interference case brought forth by Special Counsel Jack Smith, per Fox News.
Trump’s case has been rejected by two lower courts. Trump believes he is immune from prosecution for things he did while he was in office, per The Hill.
Trump is currently in the midst of his criminal hush money trial and will not be at Thursday’s proceedings, Fox News reported, adding that as a criminal defendant, Trump must be present throughout the trial.
Judge Juan Merchan, presiding in the hush money case, ruled Trump could not miss that case in order to attend the Supreme Court arguments.
“Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court… is also a big deal,” Merchan said.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case in late June.
Smith charged the Trump with “conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights,” per the outlet.
The case involves Trump’s culpability in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any “alleged interference in the 2020 election result.”
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, has asserted that since this occurred when he was president, he should have presidential immunity.
His attorneys stated in court documents “if the prosecution of a President is upheld, such prosecutions will recur and become increasingly common, ushering in destructive cycles of recrimination.”
“Criminal prosecution, with its greater stigma and more severe penalties, imposes a far greater ‘personal vulnerability’ on the President than any civil penalty,” Trump’s lawyers said. “The threat of future criminal prosecution by a politically opposed Administration will overshadow every future President’s official acts – especially the most politically controversial decisions.”
Trump’s attorney’s stated the president’s “political opponents will seek to influence and control his or her decisions via effective extortion or blackmail with the threat, explicit or implicit, of indictment by a future, hostile Administration, for acts that do not warrant any such prosecution.”
However, some on the other side have said a Trump win would result in a loss for the U.S. and would give presidents too much power whether they are in office or not, per The Hill.
“It’s so fundamental to the presidency, where a president is truly trying to corrupt the system and perpetuate himself in office,” said John Dean, the former White House counsel to former President Richard Nixon. “If Trump can get away with doing what he did, we don’t have a democracy.”
Trump has commented on the case as recently as Monday with a post on Truth Social.
“Without Immunity, the Presidency, as we know it, will no longer exist. Many actions for the benefit of our Country will not be taken. This is in no way what the Founders had in mind,” Trump wrote.
Prosecutors have a different view.
“The effective functioning of the Presidency does not require that a former President be immune from accountability for these alleged violations of federal criminal law. To the contrary, a bedrock principle of our constitutional order is that no person is above the law — including the President,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.
“Nothing in constitutional text, history, precedent, or policy considerations supports the absolute immunity that petitioner seeks.”
The timing of the Supreme Court case could impact other criminal charges Trump is facing, especially if he wins in November. If that’s the case, he would like stop all other charges, per The Hill.
