Former US President Donald Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court to suspend a lower court ruling that turned down his request for presidential immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The apex court ruling will determine whether Trump can be put on trial for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The case comes at a time when Trump is leading the race to become the Republican nominee to face Joe Biden.
Trump faces a host of criminal cases including a bid to remove top-secret documents from White House and an attempt to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory among others.
Earlier, a lower court ruled that Trump could not claim immunity.
The judges said that Trump’s claims were “unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution.”
The court also said that “putting a president beyond the reach” of the judiciary and legislature would lead to the “collapse of our system of separated powers”.
The judges also rejected Trump’s claim that his criminal indictment would have a “chilling effect” on future presidents.
Trump’s trial over attempts to subvert the 2020 election had originally been meant to start on March 4, but was delayed by the appeal.
The Supreme Court may respond to Trump’s request in different ways.
First, it would deny putting the ruling on hold. It could decide to hear the ex-president’s appeal immediately, bypassing a review from the lower court. Also, there is a possibility that it could decide to hear it on the court’s usual schedule, which could likely delay a trial in the case well past November’s election date.
Earlier, the US Supreme Court previously denied a request to issue an expedited ruling on Trump’s immunity argument.
As of now, it is not clear when the apex court would rule on Trump’s request.
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