Jack Smith tries to save Trump trial in Supreme Court brief on immunity
MSNBCApr 09
Special Counsel Urges SCOTUS to Reject Trump's Immunity Claim
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The Facts
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a US Supreme Court brief on Monday, urging the justices to reject former Pres. Donald Trump's immunity claim in the federal election interference case on the grounds that "no person is above the law."
In the 66-page filing, Smith argued that Trump's "novel and sweeping" immunity claim contradicts the "bedrock principle of our constitutional order," adding that the "framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President."
The Spin
Anti-Trump narrative
While Trump pulls out every trick in the book to delay his criminal trials, Jack Smith is pushing back against the former president's ridiculously flawed legal arguments. In his brief to the Supreme Court, Smith laid out the numerous holes in Trump's claims while demonstrating that a former president doesn't have the unadulterated right to violate the Constitution. Smith has done his job, and it's up to the conservative court to decide whether its allegiance is to the Constitution or Trump.
Pro-Trump narrative
Jack Smith continues to demonstrate that he is engaged in a political witch hunt against Donald Trump, and his latest filing to SCOTUS shows the double standards of his arguments. Smith knows he can't present a serious case claiming that Trump engaged in insurrection, so he's trying to relate irrelevant statutes to Trump's actions. Unlike rabid partisans like Tanya Chutkan, SCOTUS will consider the facts of the case. Hopefully, the justices will put an end to this sham prosecution.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that Donald Trump will be convicted of a felony before the 2024 presidential election, according to the Metaculus prediction community.