The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election subversion case in Washington, D.C., says she now lacks jurisdiction over the case due to his presidential immunity claims pending at the Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote Wednesday that her order “automatically [pauses] any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant,” according to a three-page opinion.
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Last week, the former president appealed an order from the judge that rejected his motion to dismiss the election subversion case, asking that she postpone all activity in the case while the appeal proceeds.
Smith sought to circumvent the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and go straight to the Supreme Court on Monday. The high court agreed to expedite the matter and told Trump to respond by Wednesday of next week.
Because Trump’s claims of immunity are pending, Chutkan said that for now, she cannot preside over the case. However, she does have the ability to enforce Trump’s conditions of release, as well as a protective order and a gag order on the former president.
“Consequently, the court agrees with both parties that Defendant’s appeal automatically stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant,” Chutkan wrote in a Wednesday afternoon order.
Trump has long maintained he is immune from the charges special counsel Jack Smith has levied against him because the alleged misdeeds he committed took place while he was still in office.
The decision means everything in Trump’s Washington, D.C., trial is on hold until the Supreme Court resolves the immunity issue. The high court still has not agreed to take up the case on the merits but could soon after Trump’s response next week, or it could rule that the appeals court should weigh the matter first before the nine justices are tasked with handling the immunity dispute.
A March 4 trial for Trump in the case is now even more uncertain. Smith initially sought to fast-track the appeal to the Supreme Court in order to keep that time frame on pace. Chutkan said she would revisit whether the trial for the Republican primary front-runner can begin on the eve of Super Tuesday after the appeals process has played out.
Trump has been indicted on four felony charges in the federal election case charging him with conspiracy and obstruction related to his and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election. His separate federal indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents has a trial date tentatively set for May in Florida federal court, though it is unclear if a delay in the Washington, D.C., case could have a domino effect on that schedule as well.
Lower courts have so far not affirmed Trump’s attempts to shake off his 91 cumulative charges across four indictments through his claims of presidential immunity. However, these tests have been advantageous in allowing him to delay proceedings as he seeks to win back the Oval Office in November 2024.
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The former president could also seek another immunity claim appeal to the highest court in the near future over a civil defamation case involving former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. The U.S. Court of Appeals or the 2nd Circuit on Wednesday rejected Trump’s presidential immunity claims over that dispute, prompting a swift rebuke by Trump’s attorneys.
“The Second Circuit’s ruling is fundamentally flawed and we will continue to pursue Justice and appropriate resolution,” Trump attorney Alina Habba told the Washington Examiner. The lawyer told Reuters earlier in the day that her team was mulling an appeal to the Supreme Court.
