The Daily Fuckup

Special counsel Jack Smith asked the D.C. Circuit on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, to reject Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution in the federal case over efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The filing came ahead of arguments scheduled for Jan. 9, 2024, and pushed the court to keep the case moving on its current track.

In the government’s telling, Trump’s appeal tries to stretch presidential power beyond the term in office and beyond the conduct the Constitution protects. Prosecutors said the charged conduct was tied to an alleged effort to stop the lawful transfer of power after the 2020 election, and that the former president does not get a blanket shield from criminal exposure for those acts just because they happened while he held office.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the conduct at issue fell within official responsibilities and should be treated as immune. Smith’s office rejected that view, saying the case centers on alleged actions taken to keep Trump in power after he lost the election, not on routine presidential duties. The filing asks the appeals court to treat the immunity claim as unsupported by the law governing this criminal case.

The immunity fight has become one of the central procedural battles in the election-subversion prosecution. The court’s decision on the issue could determine whether the case proceeds toward trial on the current schedule or faces another round of delay while the legal question is resolved. Separately, a Dec. 29 appellate judgment in a different case involving Trump is not part of this criminal appeal.