SCOTUS responds to Jack Smith's motion to speed up Trump presidential immunity petition

The Supreme Court agreed to consider Special Counsel Jack Smith's petition on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution — and wants a response from the former president in nine days, reported CBS News' Scott MacFarlane.

According to the court's statement, Trump is directed to respond to Smith's petition by December 20.

Smith went to the Supreme Court in response to Trump's apparent efforts to drag out the 2020 election interference trial with claims that he has "presidential immunity."

District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, already ruled Trump is not immune, but the former president moved to appeal to the D.C. Circuit.

Theoretically, if the appeals dragged out long enough, the trial's planned date next year could be moved back, or even have to be delayed until after the election altogether, where it could be canceled with a self-pardon if Trump were to win re-election.