Supreme Court to hear high-stakes arguments on Trump’s presidential immunity in criminal case: Live

The US Supreme Court will hold a special session on Thursday to hear arguments over whether presidential immunity protects Donald Trump from prosecution in the special counsel case regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election result.

The former president argues that a Nixon-era ruling gives him broad immunity from prosecution over his time in office, while special counsel Jack Smith’s points to another Nixon case holding that presidents don’t have “absolute, unqualified” judicial immunity regarding official acts.

The 25 April arguments will impact whether Trump faces the special counsel case in Washington, and could influence whether the prosecution moves forward before the November presidential election.

It’s not the first time he’s faced a key decision at the high court in 2024. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that states didn’t have the authority to remove Trump’s presidential ballot eligibility using the 14th amendment.

Thursday’s Supreme Court arguments were spurred on by a case filed last year against Donald Trump by federal officials, accusing him of trying to overturn the 2020 election.

At the time, Alex Woodward had this analysis on what the charges mean.

The former president is charged with three criminal conspiracies and obstruction in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election

The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear arguments about whether presidential immunity privileges protect Donald Trump from the special counsel case against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election result.

Here’s what you need to know:

Why does this case matter?

Thursday’s arguments deal with a highly complicated area of the law: how much a president is protected from prosecution based on things