In a latest legal maneuver, former President Donald Trump's lawyers have submitted a 35-page filing to the US Supreme Court, urging the rejection of a request from the special counsel to fast-track a decision on whether Trump is immune from prosecution for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The filing contends that prosecutors lack standing to bring the petition.

Trump's argument revolves around the assertion that prosecutors have no grounds to appeal a lower court ruling that was in their favor. Instead, he maintains that they should defer intervening in the case until a federal appeals court issues its own judgment. The ex-president's lawyers emphasized that the ordinary review procedures will allow the DC Circuit to address the appeal initially, providing the Supreme Court with the benefit of considering an appellate court's prior judgment.

The papers filed by Trump's legal team essentially aim to freeze the case indefinitely and delay the trial scheduled for March 2024. Prosecutors had sought to bypass the potentially lengthy appeals process by directly requesting the nation's highest court to resolve the matter.

Trump's primary argument for deferring the petition is procedural. His lawyers argue that the narrow cases where prosecutors can appeal a favorable lower court ruling are limited to situations where the government has suffered harm, which, they claim, does not apply to special counsel Jack Smith.

The filing also maintains that the court's preference should be to allow the DC Circuit to issue a judgment first, aligning with regular practice, especially given the DC Circuit's agreement to expedite the consideration of the question at hand.

The outcome of Trump's arguments remains uncertain, as he repeatedly cited the case of Camreta v Greene (2011) where the court ruled that the fact that the victor filed the appeal did not strip it of jurisdiction to hear the case.

Trump further accuses the special counsel's office of conflating the "public interest" in a speedy trial with "partisan interest". He alleges that the prosecutors are eager to go to trial before the 2024 election in order to tie him up in court during the height of his presidential campaign for political reasons.

The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision regarding whether to grant the special counsel's appeal in the near future. If the court takes the case, oral arguments may be scheduled in January, with a decision following within weeks. However, if the court declines, the jurisdiction will be returned to the DC Circuit.

Earlier this month, Trump had requested the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to reverse a decision by the trial judge to reject his motion for dismissing the indictment on the basis of absolute immunity. This motion, filed as part of the delay strategy, was expected to fail but provided an opportunity for appeal and resulted in the pause of the case pending the outcome of the appeals process.

Trump's legal team anticipated the scheduling of oral arguments and issuing of a ruling by the DC Circuit to take several months. The plan was to bring the matter before the Supreme Court only after a potential loss, which could also take months to decide on Trump's prosecutability in the case.

However, prosecutors preempted Trump's strategy and hastened the Supreme Court's involvement by seeking a grant of certiorari before the DC Circuit issued a judgment. They also separately requested the DC Circuit to expedite its consideration.

The federal 2020 election interference trial is currently set for March 4th, the day before Super Tuesday, when 15 states are scheduled to hold Republican primaries or caucuses. Trump, who is the front-runner for the GOP nomination, has made it clear that he wants to avoid being tied up in court proceedings.

The former president's legal strategy, for all his criminal cases, appears to primarily rely on pursuing procedural delays. If the cases do not go to trial before the 2024 election, and if he wins a second term, Trump could potentially direct his chosen attorney general to drop all charges against him.

Even if the trial were to take place before November, Trump's preference would have been for it to occur as close as possible to the election, providing his 2024 campaign with ammunition to depict the criminal case against him as politically motivated.