U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump’s immunity claim with oral arguments set for April…By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio’s Black digital news leader

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear former President Donald Trump’s (pictured) case on whether he is immune from prosecution on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election that he lost to current President Joe Biden.

The nation’s highest court will hear arguments in April and a ruling could come by the end of June, sources have said.

A U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected Mr Trump’s argument earlier this month and he appealed to the Supreme Court that has three Trump appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney-Barrett.

Trump had claimed in the unprecedented legal case that he was immune from all criminal charges for acts that he said fell within his duties as president, including that he incited the Jan 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

The Supreme Court taking the case is, by some standards, a victory for the former president as it increases the chances that his trial may not happen before November’s presidential election, a likely rematch between Trump and Biden.

The former president was elated with Wednesday’s decision and said on his Truth Social site that without immunity presidents would  be “paralyzed by the prospect of wrongful prosecution and retaliation after they leave office.”

Trump, 77,  was charged last year with witness tampering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.

Jack Smith, who was appointed as special counsel in the investigation, brought the criminal charges against  Trump and  wants the trial to be held this year. He initially asked the Supreme Court to take up that question to no avail and this left the federal court to address the matter. It rejected his claim earlier this month in a unanimous ruling and it is from that ruling that Mr. Trump successfully sought review by the Supreme Court.

“We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a president has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power – the recognition and implementation of election results,” the appeals court wrote in rejecting the immunity claim.