Former President Donald Trump speaks throughout a rally Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Reno, Nev. In a short filed Saturday, Trump requested a federal appeals court docket to dismiss an election interference case in opposition to him, arguing he is immune from prosecution.

Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP

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Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP

Former President Donald Trump speaks throughout a rally Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Reno, Nev. In a short filed Saturday, Trump requested a federal appeals court docket to dismiss an election interference case in opposition to him, arguing he is immune from prosecution.

Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have requested a federal appeals court docket to throw out a case alleging interference within the 2020 election, arguing that he’s immune from prosecution.

“Under our system of separated powers, the Judicial Branch cannot sit in judgment over a President’s official acts,” they wrote in a short filed Saturday night time with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The transfer got here a day after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to fast track a dispute over Trump’s immunity from prosecution.

Special counsel Jack Smith made that plea for urgency in a bid to maintain his legal case in opposition to Trump on monitor for trial beginning March 4. The election interference case is on maintain whereas the query over immunity performs out. The D.C. appeals court docket has agreed to work shortly, and oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 9.

In their transient, Trump’s legal professionals argue that no present or former president could also be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” except they’ve been impeached and convicted by the Senate. Since that didn’t occur to Trump, they write, he has “absolute immunity.”

They additionally name the indictment “unlawful and unconstitutional” and warn that it “threatens to launch cycles of recrimination and politically motivated prosecution that will plague our Nation for many decades to come.”

Special counsel Smith has alleged that Trump went properly past official duties as he waged a months lengthy marketing campaign to overturn the 2020 election outcomes, falsely asserting that the vote had been stolen. His authorized workforce pursued dozens of lawsuits in states the place Trump misplaced, and courts repeatedly rejected the claims of election fraud.

At stake within the arguments over immunity shouldn’t be solely whether or not Smith’s legal case proceeds, but in addition — if it does — how far into election season it might be pushed.

Trump could be required to seem in court docket throughout arguments, which might restrict his election appearances. That may additionally supply grist for his competition that the case is politically motivated. If the trial have been delayed till after November’s vote, and if Trump gained, he would be capable of have the costs in opposition to him dropped.

In all, Trump faces 91 legal costs in 4 completely different instances, and his authorized workforce has sought to delay all of them till after the election.

The Saturday submitting asks that if the appeals court docket guidelines in opposition to the previous president, that it holds off on implementing that call whereas Trump considers requesting a overview from the complete appeals court docket or the Supreme Court.