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Blake, Wm. 'Christ the Mediator,' Christ Pleading Before the Father for St. Mary Magdalene. 1799.

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The Supreme Court won’t say for now if Trump is immune from prosecution for his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution effort against the former president, had requested urgent consideration on the issue of immunity. The Supreme Court denied the request today in a one-line order without explaining.

A federal appeals court is simultaneously racing to consider the issue, but Smith hoped to skip right to the Supreme Court. Once the appeals court gets to the issue, it could send the matter back to the nine justices in early 2024.

Because Trump is the first former president in American history to face criminal charges, the issue of immunity remains unclear. A Department of Justice policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president, but there’s no such rule for a former commander-in-chief. Trump’s lawyers maintain he cannot be charged as he was acting in his official capacity as president during the 2020 election.