Supreme Court to hear Trump immunity claim in election interference case

• The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments about whether former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution on criminal election interference charges.
• Special counsel Jack Smith's federal case charges Trump with illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
• Trump will not be at the Supreme Court to hear the oral arguments because he is required to attend his New York criminal hush money trial.

The Supreme Court on Thursday is set to consider whether former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution on criminal election interference charges.

The question before the court — whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for official acts performed while in office — is an existential one for special counsel Jack Smith's case charging Trump with illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

The high court's eventual ruling also carries profound consequences for some of Trump's other pending criminal cases that hinge on his conduct in the White House.

Along with Smith's case in Washington, D.C., Trump is charged in Georgia with attempting to reverse his loss to Biden in that state's 2020 contest.

He is also currently on trial in Manhattan Supreme Court for allegedly falsifying business records when, after becoming president in 2017, he reimbursed his then-lawyer for a $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star.

Trump will not be at the Supreme Court to hear the oral arguments because he is required to attend his New York criminal trial.

Attorneys for Trump and Smith are set to begin arguing at 10 a.m. ET before the nine justices, three of whom were nominated by Trump during his one term as president.

The Supreme Court agreed to take up