Supreme Court Agrees To Review Trump’s Criminal Immunity Claims In Trump v. United States

On February 28, 2024, the Supreme Court agreed to review former President Trump’s criminal immunity claim in Trump v. United States. Trump claims that he is immune from federal charges related to interference with the 2020 election, and the Court set the argument date for late April.

The Justices will opine on whether Trump has immunity from criminal charges of acts allegedly committed while in office. Procedurally, the Supreme Court halted Trump’s D.C. criminal case, which was going to trial in March, with the caveat that the Justices’ decision is not meant express any views on the facts of the criminal immunity challenge.

Trump was indicted in August 2023 on four counts arising from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the January 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Trump claimed presidential immunity precludes the prosecution and argued that a former president cannot be prosecuted unless he has been impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. The district court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss in December 2023. Trump appealed to the D.C. Circuit, but Smith took the unusual step of asking the Supreme Court to take the case to decide the immunity question before waiting for the D.C. Circuit’s decision. The Court declined to intervene at that point.

The district court originally set a trial date for March 4, 2024, but pushed back the date to allow time for Trump’s immunity claims to be resolved on appeal. On February 6, 2024, the D.C. Circuit rejected Trump’s immunity claims. Six days later, Trump asked the Supreme Court to stay the D.C. Circuit’s decision to allow time for him to seek certiorari. In Smith’s response to the stay application, he argued against a stay but also offered another route—to set up oral arguments and resolve the dispute quickly. In an unsigned order, the Court agreed to review Trump’s immunity claims.

There will be an update on this case after the oral arguments occur in late April.

For more information, please contact Chantel Febus, James Azadian, Cory Webster, Christopher Sakauye, McKenna Crisp, Monika Harris, or Puja Valera.