South Dakota
Trump asks U.S. Supreme Court to pause federal trial over presidential immunity question – South Dakota Searchlight
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to further delay his federal criminal trial on charges he attempted to subvert the 2020 election, contending his actions were protected by presidential immunity.
In a 40-page application to the Supreme Court late Monday, Trump and his attorneys asked the justices to pause pretrial activities in federal district court for the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith accusing Trump of lying to and encouraging supporters who turned violent on Jan. 6, 2021 and attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s application comes just days after the Supreme Court justices heard arguments in a separate case involving the former president, this time about whether Colorado could bar him from the 2024 presidential primary ballot because he violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The justices met the argument with skepticism.
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, plans to challenge a three-judge panel appeals court ruling last week that said he could not claim presidential immunity to escape the criminal charges accusing him of conspiring to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s team said in the Monday application that they plan to appeal “en banc,” meaning to the full D.C. Circuit appeals court, and also to the U.S. Supreme Court, “if necessary,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Smith had asked the Supreme Court in December to fast-track Trump’s immunity question, essentially leapfrogging the federal appeals process, but the justices declined the request.
The brief cited Trump’s schedule ahead of November’s presidential election, saying a long trial would keep him off the campaign trail and deprive “tens of millions of American voters, who are entitled to hear President Trump’s campaign message as they decide how to cast their ballots.”
“Conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign against President Biden — which appears to be the whole point of the Special Counsel’s persistent demands for expedition,” Trump’s lawyers said.
A majority of justices would have to vote to grant a stay for it to take effect.
Immunity argument
Trump is likely to win a high court case, his lawyers said Monday, because he was representing an essential aspect of presidential power. Allowing presidents to be prosecuted would create a constant threat of prosecution for every future president, making the job virtually unmanageable.
“This threat will hang like a millstone around every future President’s neck, distorting Presidential decisionmaking, undermining the President’s independence,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist.”
All the allegations in the four-count indictment stemmed from actions Trump took in his official capacity as president as a good-faith effort to reverse widespread election fraud, the brief said.
Prosecutors say Trump knew there was not determinative voter fraud, but nonetheless pressured state officials, Department of Justice leaders, Vice President Mike Pence, and others to illegally use the claim to overturn the election results.
The pressure campaign eventually led to the deadly storming of the Capitol by Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, according to prosecutors and the U.S. House committee that investigated the matter.
Shortly after he left office, the U.S. House impeached Trump for his role in the attack. But with only seven Republican senators joining all Democrats in voting to convict Trump, the former president was acquitted in a Senate trial.
That should also protect Trump from court prosecution under the principle of double jeopardy that says a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime, Trump’s lawyers argued to the Supreme Court.
Four of the Supreme Court’s nine justices would have to agree to hear the case. Trump appointed three of them.
Original trial date postponed
Although Trump has not succeeded in having the case thrown out over presidential immunity, the issue has gobbled up months of court time and delayed his trial.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is the trial judge in the case, said last month she would postpone the original trial start date of March 4. She has not set a new date.
In October, Trump made a pretrial motion to throw out the charges based on his presidential immunity theory.
Chutkan denied the motion, and Trump appealed her decision to the D.C. Circuit.
A panel of the appeals court ruled last week to uphold Chutkan’s decision, and gave Trump until Monday to take the case to the Supreme Court.
In early January, Trump’s lawyer D. John Sauer argued before federal appeals judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Florence Y. Pan and J. Michelle Childs that the former president has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution because presidents cannot be tried for “official acts” taken while in office.
When asked by the judges about hypothetical criminal acts including ordering the assassination of a political rival or selling military secrets, Sauer notably argued that if presidents are not impeached and convicted, they would be immune from criminal prosecution.
In the unanimous unsigned federal appeals opinion on Feb. 6, the judges dismissed Trump’s arguments as “unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution.”
“We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power — the recognition and implementation of election results,” they wrote.
The three-judge federal appeals panel comprised appointees from both Democrat and Republican administrations — Henderson, appointed by George H.W. Bush, and both Pan and Childs were appointed by President Joe Biden.
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GRAND FORKS — UND senior guard Garrett Anderson had shot 1-for-7 from the field before he pulled up for a deep 3-pointer in overtime.
It was a make-or-break shot for the Fighting Hawks, who trailed South Dakota State by two points with 20 seconds remaining.
Anderson’s triple fell. On a Saturday afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center where several Hawks provided clutch shots late, it was his 3-pointer that iced the victory.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
“That was a huge three by Garrett,” UND head coach Paul Sather said. “Happy for him, because you feel it with him — when that floodgate opens a little bit of confidence, and not just as a scorer but just as a player, he keeps fighting for it, keeps working for it, keeps keeping the right mindset.”
UND won 90-87, earning its third-straight win over the Jackrabbits and improving to 2-0 (8-10 overall) in Summit League play.
South Dakota State, hot off the heels of a commanding New Year’s Day win over Omaha, fell to 1-1 in conference (8-9 overall).
“These two first league games, you need to protect your home court if you want any chance to be in play at the end of this year,” Sather said. “It’s a great way to start. But you also need to go on the road and win some games. And as I tell the guys, it’s not who, when or where, it’s how you show up to play. And having that mentality, it’s not home and road, it’s ‘Are you ready to go today?’”
The Hawks needed just about everyone to stave off SDSU.
Redshirt sophomore guard Zach Kraft and freshman guard Anthony Smith III led the way with double-digit point totals in a first half that was a high-scoring, fast-paced affair.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
UND shot 64.3%, South Dakota State 55.6%. By halftime, the Hawks had a slight 50-45 lead.
The shooting cooled down in the second half and in overtime. In those final two frames, the Hawks turned to a variety of players, from the starting lineup to the bench, to keep up with the Jackrabbits.
“It’s hard to sustain that for 40 minutes, but we were able to kind of get ourselves back,” Sather said. “Our bench was fantastic in that first half. … We sustained it, we got back in, we stayed there within distance of it, and guys made plays. We had opportunities to make plays and close the game, but we had plays that were made to get us into overtime and win in overtime.”
Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen finished with a team-high 17 points and nailed the final two free throws in overtime to seal the win.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
Kraft, who ended with 14 points, splashed a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in regulation to take a 79-77 lead.
Junior forward George Natsvlishvili came off the bench and tied up the game just minutes earlier with a clutch second-chance layup. He also nabbed a key basket with 1 minute, 56 seconds left in overtime.
Before South Dakota State managed to rally back for its first lead of the second half, a free throw and a layup from Smith kept the Hawks’ offense on pace with the visitors. He finished with 16 points.
UND’s bench contributed 39 points.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
“I felt like our bench won the game today,” Kraft said. “In the first half, (Smith) came into the game, knocked down that three at the end of the half, and then Wylee (Delorme) in the second half, five rebounds, scoring off the offensive rebounds, it’s huge for us.”
Delorme put together his best game as a Hawk in the win. The sophomore guard from Devils Lake constantly attacked the offensive glass, flexing some creativity with slick drives to the rim.
He earned a season-high 12 points.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
“We’ve seen him more of a shooter (in practice), I haven’t really seen the behind-the-back, step-through and float,” Anderson said. “That was kind of new, that was a tough move. But he’s gotten to it in practice for sure.”
Kraft, Uelmen, Smith, Delorme and senior guard Eli King all finished with 12 or more points.
“We just relied on our guys that make those tough shots and are built for those moments,” Delorme said. “Seventh, eighth man off the bench — like Marley (Curtis), Marley can have a double-digit day too. All of us can go for 10 points, but it’s just a matter of making the easy plays and just using each other.”
UND will face its first road test of the conference slate this Thursday, when it travels to Omaha.
Gabe and Reed Uelmen / Grand Forks Herald
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Jan. 3, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from Jan. 3 drawing
18-21-40-53-60, Powerball: 23, Power Play: 3
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Jan. 3 drawing
01-02-28-30-43, Lucky Ball: 07
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from Jan. 3 drawing
03-04-05-25-42, Star Ball: 03, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from Jan. 3 drawing
07-13-17-28-30
Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 28, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Dec. 28 drawing
12-17-25-34-42, Lucky Ball: 09
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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