SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK Smith has asked the Supreme Court to rule quickly on whether former US president Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.

A federal judge ruled the case could go forward, but the Republican former president signalled he would ask the federal appeals court in Washington to reverse that outcome.

Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court.

The request filed today for the Supreme Court to take up the matter directly reflects Smith’s desire to keep the trial, currently for 4 March, on track and to prevent any delays that could push back the case until after next year’s presidential election.

Prosecutors wrote: “This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former president is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”

The earliest court would consider the appeal would be 5 January, the date of the justices’ next scheduled private conference.

Underscoring the urgency for prosecutors in securing a quick resolution that can push the case forward, they added: “It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected.”

At issue is a 1 December ruling from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan that rejected arguments by Trump’s lawyers that he was immune from federal prosecution.

In her order, she wrote that the office of the president “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass”.

“Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” Chutkan wrote.

“Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.”