Smith has week to respond to Trump Supreme Court immunity petition

The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday that special counsel Jack Smith has one week to respond to an emergency petition to keep former President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 trial on hold until he can appeal a ruling that he did not have presidential immunity at the time of the conduct at issue.

Smith has until Feb. 20 to respond to the Monday petition, and then the court will issue a ruling on the matter.

The Hill reported that this did not represent a particularly speedy timeline, given that even a few weeks could delay the trial in ways that would threaten to move it beyond the 2024 election.

If the petition to delay the trial is granted, it is unlikely that the trial will conclude before the election.

Presidents do enjoy broad immunity, and Trump has argued that his actions, however misguided some think they were, were covered by such protections.

Of course, Democrats have accused him of trying to overturn the 2020 election, which would be against the law if he indeed did so and would likely not be covered under any sort of immunity.