Former President Donald Trump has requested a pause in the ongoing classified documents case against him, citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted presidents substantial immunity for official acts committed while they were in office.
Trump's legal team filed motions with a Florida court on July 5, asking for all proceedings to be halted except those dealing with Smith's gag order request until the judge can apply the Supreme Court's immunity ruling to the facts of the case.
The Supreme Court ruled that presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office but not for unofficial acts. Trump argues that his decision to transmit classified documents to his Florida home as he prepared to leave the presidency should be treated as an official act and removed from special counsel Jack Smith's case against him.
The push by Trump is the latest effort to wield the Supreme Court's decision as a weapon in his ongoing cases in Florida, Washington D.C., and Georgia, each of which implicate some of Trump's actions during his final months in the White House.
Trump also used his Friday filing to point to President Joe Biden's July 1 remarks criticizing the Supreme Court's immunity ruling. Trump's team urged Judge Aileen Cannon to focus on Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in the immunity ruling, which raised questions about whether Smith's appointment as special counsel was constitutional.
The case has already scrambled plans for New York state judge Juan Merchan to sentence Trump on his 34-count conviction for concealing evidence of his alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. Though that case centered on Trump's private actions, some of the evidence prosecutors relied on overlapped with his first two years in the White House, which Trump contends should have been treated as off-limits.
The ruling has also raised questions about whether it could impact other ongoing investigations and cases against Trump. The Justice Department is reportedly considering appealing the decision to the full Supreme Court.