Supreme Court Will Ignore Donald Trump's Immunity Appeal—Attorney

The Supreme Court will decline to hear Donald Trump's latest appeal after a federal appeals panel rejected his claim that he is immune from prosecution, according to an attorney.

Tuesday's unanimous opinion from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the former president can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, one of four prosecutions he is fighting as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024.

The judges rejected the argument that a president has "unbounded authority to commit crimes" that would prevent the recognition of election results or violate the rights of citizens to vote and have their votes count. "We cannot accept that the office of the presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter," the judges wrote.

Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, plans to appeal the decision. He has blasted it as a "nation-destroying ruling" that "cannot be allowed to stand."

He could ask the full D.C. Circuit court to reconsider the panel's ruling or go directly to the Supreme Court. The former would mean the case moves forward, but if the Supreme Court agrees to take up the issue, the case is likely to remain on hold for weeks or even months while the justices consider the appeal.

The appeals panel has given Trump only until February 12 to ask the Supreme Court to get involved.

But Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general, believes the high court's justices will not agree to hear his appeal.

"I do not think the Supreme Court will hear Trump's appeal," Katyal wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"Of course, anything can happen and it takes 4 of the 9 Justices to vote to hear a case. But Trump's argument is so weak and the Court of Appeals decision so thorough and well done, I can see SCOTUS voting not to hear it."

The best part of the appeals panel's decision, Katyal said, is "that they made it so that Trump has to go to the Supreme Court" by February 12 or the case goes back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to set the trial date.

"Trump will go to the Supreme Court and ask them to hear the case, which will likely pause things for a bit," Katyal wrote. "But the court will decide whether to hear the case within a couple of weeks likely, and if they do not hear it, then Judge Chutkan can set a trial date for soon."

Newsweek has contacted Katyal and a Trump spokesperson for further comment via email.

Chutkan, who is overseeing the election interference case, also rejected the immunity argument, ruling in December that the office of the presidency "does not confer a 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass." She put the case on hold while Trump pursued his immunity claims and last week, she postponed the scheduled March 4 trial date.

Other legal experts believe the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, may decide to hear Trump's appeal.

The justices "could decline to take the case and simply leave the Court of Appeals opinion in place," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote in her Civil Discourse newsletter.

"But perhaps they will want to put their own stamp on it, since this is an issue of first impression—the courts have never before decided whether a former president has immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office—and one of great national significance."