Trump whines to SCOTUS he can't talk to voters if he's stuck in a criminal courtroom

One of the key arguments made by former President Donald Trump in his filing to the Supreme Court asking for a stay on the D.C. Circuit's ruling he is not immune from prosecution is that a criminal trial would deprive him of vital time he needs to spend campaigning for voters in 2024.

"The D.C. Circuit’s extraordinary decision to return the mandate to the district court to proceed to trial imposes another grave species of irreparable injury — the threat to the First Amendment rights of President Trump, his supporters and volunteers, and all American voters, who are entitled to hear from the leading candidate for President at the height of the Presidential campaign," the filing stated — logic which would appear to argue against it ever being permissible to charge presidential candidates with a crime in an election year.

"The Special Counsel seeks urgently to force President Trump into a months-long criminal trial at the height of campaign season, effectively sidelining him and preventing him from campaigning against the current President to whom the Special Counsel ultimately reports, President Biden," the riling continued. "This would impose grave First Amendment injuries on President Trump and all American voters, whether they support him or not, and threatens to tarnish the federal courts with the appearance of partisanship."

This marks the latest salvo in the fight for special counsel Jack Smith to get his conspiracy charges brought to trial against the former president for his involvement in plots to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The lower court published a blistering opinion earlier this month rebuking Trump's insistence that he cannot be prosecuted for anything he did while in office as president, citing historical precedent that indicates the exact opposite.

Whether the Supreme Court decides to take up the matter for review, and how quickly they schedule arguments on it if so, are critical to determining whether the trial can reach a verdict before the 2024 election is held.