Donald Trump handed win as Supreme Court rejects fast-track ruling over whether ex-president can be prosecuted
Donald Trump was handed a win in the courts after a proposed fast-track ruling over whether the former president can be prosecuted was rejected.
Mr Trump – leading in the race to be the Republican nominee in 2024 – faces criminal charges over allegations he conspired to overturn the 2020 election.
He has argued he has “absolute immunity” under the constitution on grounds that former presidents cannot face criminal charges for conduct related to official responsibilities. He also denies the charges against him outright.
The landmark election subversion trial was scheduled for 4 March, but the US Supreme Court said it will not immediately take up special counsel Jack Smith’s plea to rule on whether Mr Trump is immune from prosecution, putting the scheduled date in jeopardy.
Mr Smith’s request was turned down in a single-sentence order on Friday and, as is customary, the court gave no explanation for the decision.
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The rejection means that the case will return to the court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit on 9 January, when a three-judge panel is set to hear Mr Trump’s arguments.
While it signalled it will act quickly, Mr Smith warned that a rapid appellate decision from the court still might not get to the Supreme Court in time for review and final word before the traditional summer break.
In response to Friday’s ruling, Mr Trump called the special counsel’s request a “desperate attempt to short circuit our Great Constitution”.
He added in a Truth Social post that he was “looking forward” to arguments before the appeals court while repeating unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
The Supreme Court voted against the EPA – dealing a blow to President Biden Pic: AP
The case against Mr Trump was already frozen by district judge Tanya Chutkan earlier this month, after she denied that it could be dismissed on presidential immunity grounds and constitutional grounds.
The former president then launched an appeal on his immunity claims with the circuit court.
Mr Smith indicted the former president in June on four charges in Washington DC, but it is only one of four criminal cases Mr Trump faces.
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He has been charged by Mr Smith again for illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, with that case set for trial in May.
Mr Trump is also accused by state prosecutors in Georgia of scheming to subvert that state’s presidential election, and in New York in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress.
It comes as Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled he is ineligible for the presidency under the constitution’s insurrection clause over the 6 January riots.
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Donald Trump is ineligible for the US presidency under the constitution’s insurrection clause, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled.
As it stands, voters in Colorado wouldn’t be able to cast their ballot for the former president in the election next year.
The ruling does not prevent him from running across the rest of the US.
Mr Trump’s campaign said it will appeal against the “completely flawed” decision to the state’s Supreme Court in another legal battle before voting starts in November.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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