The filing effectively pauses what would be a landmark criminal trial of a former president while the nation’s highest court decides what to do.
Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to extend a delay in his trial for attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 US election, arguing he is immune from prosecution.
The former president’s lawyers have filed an emergency appeal asking the justices to pause a ruling made by a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, which rejected his claim of immunity and ruled the trial could proceed.
The ruling meant he could be prosecuted for actions he took while in the White House from January 2017 and in the run-up to 6 January 2021 when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
«Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist,» Mr Trump’s lawyers wrote.
They argued that «conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign» against President Joe Biden ahead of the election.
