Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Immunity Claims, Setting Up Supreme Court Review

The high court late last year declined special counsel Jack Smith’s request to step in and rule on the question immediately.

WASHINGTON — A federal appellate court has unanimously rejected Donald Trump’s argument that his attempts to overturn the 2020 election he lost and which led to the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were “official” acts and therefore immune from prosecution, likely setting up an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The former president had asked the court to overturn District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling in December that Trump’s actions were not part of his duties as president and that holding that office did not give him a “get out of out jail free” card.

The appeals court gave Trump until next Monday to file an appeal with the Supreme Court to get a stay of its ruling until the high court decides whether to take the case.

The appellate court decided that “for the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.”

The opinion stated, “But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”