Dec. 22 (UPI) — After a federal ruling last week denied his claims of presidential immunity, former President Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court to delay opening a defamation lawsuit in a lawsuit filed in against him through editor E. Jean Carroll to his legal options, adding taking the case to the Supreme Court.
“The requested remains are adequate to provide President Trump the opportunity to fully assert his right to presidential immunity in the underlying proceeding, as well as to pursue the appeal to the Supreme Court if established,” the document said, arguing that without a final decision. his defense of immunity would be the “par excellence form of prejudice. “
Nearly two years after leaving the White House, Trump’s legal team first argued that he had immunity from prosecution thanks to presidential immunity, a claim that was rejected last week through an appeals court.
Thursday’s filing comes as the Supreme Court is already considering Trump’s immunity in a second case. Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four counts of interference in the 2020 presidential election, to which the former president argued that he had breached presidential immunity.
A lower court earlier ruled he does not enjoy presidential immunity in the case, which he has since appealed. In the process, the case was put on hold amid the litigation.
Smith asked the high court earlier this month to expedite Trump’s appeal.
In his filing Thursday, Trump’s lawyer questions Smith’s recent lawsuit and says his defamation case should also be suspended.
“This case is on hold pending the resolution of the appeal, as it deserves to be, and the option that the Supreme Court may soon recognize President Trump’s immunity also supports the requested stays,” his lawyer said.
This is the second lawsuit Carroll has filed against the former president.
In May, a Manhattan jury found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in a New York City department store in the 1990s and subsequently defamed her after she made the crime public in 2019.
The jury ruled that Trump must pay him $5 million in compensation, as well as punitive damages for attack and defamation.