Supreme Court Signals It Will Move Quickly on Trump Immunity Case

(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court signaled it will move quickly to decide whether to intervene in a clash stemming from the criminal charges against Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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The high court on Monday told Trump’s legal team to respond by Dec. 20 to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request that the justices decide whether the former president is entitled to absolute immunity.

Smith is urging the justices to take the unusual step of bypassing a federal appeals court and directly reviewing a trial judge’s refusal to toss out the indictment against Trump. Smith told the justices earlier Monday that “it is of imperative public importance” they resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Should the justices refuse to take up the case immediately, they could do so after the appeals court rules.

Smith’s filing marks the first time the Supreme Court has been asked to intervene in one of the four pending criminal prosecutions against Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The Supreme Court order granted Smith’s request to expedite handling of the matter, though he had sought to have Trump’s lawyers respond even sooner, by Dec. 18.

Meanwhile, Smith’s office also asked the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to expedite hearing the immunity issue, a hedge in case the Supreme Court declines to take it up. That court on Monday gave Trump until Dec. 13 to respond to the government’s request.

The case is United States v. Trump, 23-624.

--With assistance from Zoe Tillman.

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