Special Counsel Jack Smith may not have the opportunity to formally prosecute former President Donald Trump ahead of the presidential election, yet he's making significant strides in that direction.
This is largely due to the brief filed by the Department of Justice in the D.C. election interference case last Thursday.
According to RedState, when the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on presidential immunity in early July, it was largely perceived as a triumph for Trump, albeit an incomplete one. Many left-leaning individuals, including a couple of justices, lamented the decision, interpreting it as a carte blanche for the president to perpetrate atrocities without consequences. However, the ruling did not grant such unchecked power.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court established that a former president enjoys absolute immunity for his core constitutional powers. Additionally, ex-presidents are entitled to a presumption of immunity for their official acts. However, there is no immunity for unofficial acts.
Post-ruling, the case was returned to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which subsequently sent it back to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan for "further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Courts opinion." Chutkan promptly advanced the case, scheduling it for a conference and rejecting one of Trump's motions to dismiss.
During the scheduling conference on September 5, Chutkan established a briefing schedule on the immunity issue, instructing the Government to file its brief on September 26. This was despite protests from Trump's legal team that the timing was inappropriate due to its proximity to the presidential election.
A key point debated by the attorneys was the timing of the briefing concerning the presidential immunity issue. Trump's attorneys highlighted that the evidence the government plans to present in support of its stance that Trump is not immune from the charges against him could potentially include damaging information. This information would then be made public just before the election. Chutkan seemed unperturbed by this concern and, predictably, issued a scheduling order for the briefing to take place before the election.
As anticipated, late Thursday afternoon, Smith's team filed its Motion for Immunity Determinations. It is presumed that this motion alleges various wrongdoings by Trump and argues that few, if any, of them should be immune from prosecution. This assumption is made as the motion, though filed, was not immediately accessible on the court's website. The headlines returned as search results for "Jack Smith" on Thursday evening hint at the eager anticipation surrounding the filing.
While the filing remains inaccessible to the public, there was some activity on the case on Friday. The Government filed a motion for permission to file an unredacted version of the motion under seal and a redacted version to be available on the public docket.
In response, Judge Chutkan issued an order allowing Trump's legal team until October 1 to file any objections to the Government's proposed redactions in the Motion for Immunity Determinations and until October 10 to file their objections to the Government's proposed redactions to the Appendix to that motion.
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