WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — The Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday over whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The key question is whether former presidents can be prosecuted for official acts they take while in the White House.

Chief Justice John Roberts will announce the start of arguments in Donald J. Trump vs. United States of America, as the case is called, after the court marshal opens the hearing 10 a.m. The session might last for over two hours.

This case is not related to the hush money criminal trial taking place this week, which falls under the State of New York and involves actions reported to have happened before Trump was elected to office. The New York court also has denied Trump’s request to postpone its hush money trial until after the Supreme Court immunity case ruling was issued.

There are no cameras allowed in the Supreme Court courtroom, but the court provides livestream audio during its argument sessions. The feed will be on the court’s website at supremecourt.gov. C-SPAN also will carry the arguments at c-span.org.

Central to Trump’s immunity argument is the claim that only a former president who was impeached and convicted by the Senate can be criminally prosecuted. Trump was impeached over his efforts to undo the election in the run-up to the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But he was acquitted, not convicted, by the Senate in 2021.

Trump’s lawyers cite as backup for their argument a provision of the Constitution known as the Impeachment Judgment Clause that says an officeholder convicted by the Senate shall nevertheless be “liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment” in court.

Prosecutors say the Trump team is misreading the Constitution, and that conviction in the Senate is not a prerequisite for a courtroom prosecution.

The Supreme Court will be the third set of judges to address the question in the last six months. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the trial judge overseeing the case, rejected Trump's claims of absolute immunity in December. And a three-judge panel at appeals court in February said that for the purposes of this case, “former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.”

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