Trying Times

This Week in Democracy

• Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject former President Trump’s latest immunity claim. Smith’s brief rejects the argument that Trump is immune from prosecution in the federal election interference case. Trump’s claim was strongly rejected by a federal appeals court in February. The Supreme Court will hear the case on April 25.

  ➡️ READ: The federal charges, explained

• Attorneys for Trump made three attempts to delay his upcoming criminal trial in New York. Each attempt was denied. The former president’s trial about falsifying business records and hiding information from voters in 2016 is scheduled to begin on Monday.
• Attorneys for the State Bar of California asked a judge to reject John Eastman’s request to reactivate his law license. Last month’s recommendation that he be disbarred shows that Eastman “demonstrated a willingness to misrepresent facts, violate the law, and pursue frivolous claims on behalf of clients,” prosecutors argued.

  ➡️ READ: Backgrounder: John Eastman’s ethics trial

State of the States

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to reject the latest attempt to delay the election interference case. Willis urged the court to refuse to hear an appeal seeking to reverse Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling that she can continue prosecuting the case. On behalf of legal and ethics experts, States United filed a brief arguing that the Court of Appeals should refuse to accept the appeal and let the trial court’s ruling stand.

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