On Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Donald Trump’s appeal for complete immunity from criminal prosecution. Oral arguments are set for April 22, and the ruling could come as late as June. The intervention of the Supreme Court in this case represents an enormous gift to Trump and may ensure that he faces no federal trial before the November election.
Trump is currently facing 40 federal charges in Florida for his retention and mishandling of classified documents. That case has already been moving very slowly thanks to multiple appeals and a Trump-friendly judge. In Washington D.C., Trump faces four additional charges related to his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had set a trial date for next week, but was forced to scrap her schedule as higher courts considered the immunity question.Â
Many legal experts had considered the unanimous 57-page ruling by the appellate court to be definitive, providing an easy way for the Supreme Court to stay away from Trump’s appeal. But at least four justices agreed to throw Trump a lifeline, and now everything is likely to be on ice for the next four months.
The Department of Justice tries to follow what it calls the “unwritten 60-day rule.” The rule, according to the DOJ, is that it attempts “to avoid overt law enforcement and prosecutorial activities close to an election, typically within 60 or 90 days of Election Day.”Â
It is not clear how this “rule” would affect a trial. Chutkan could theoretically set a court date within a few weeks of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity. The 60-day rule does not mean that the DOJ halts trials already underway. As CNN notes, “The Justice Department has no policy, written or unwritten, forbidding an already-indicted candidate from being put on trial close to an Election Day.”
Should the Supreme Court rule before the end of the current session in June, a trial could begin by September or October. Trump could try to argue that special counsel Jack Smith cannot prosecute the case after the first week of September, to avoid the 60-day window around the Nov. 5 election. However, this rule is often understood to apply only before cases are charged.
Even so, with Trump’s legal team sure to raise additional appeals and any trial almost certain to extend more than a few weeks, the Supreme Court’s action means it is increasingly unlikely that a federal trial could be completed before November. So Trump will be able to go into Election Day still claiming that his federal indictments are “fake” and claiming that his charges came on orders from President Joe Biden, but without facing the potential damage of an actual conviction on felony changes.Â
Even if the Supreme Court ultimately rules against Trump’s immunity claims, it has provided him with a huge gift. Many legal experts found the arguments of Trump’s attorney before the appeals court, which included a claim that a president could have his political rivals assassinated without facing charges, to be ridiculous.Â
“There was no reason in this world for the Supreme Court to take this case,” retired conservative appellate judge Michael Luttig said on CNN. “The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia had written a masterful opinion denying the president’s claims of absolute immunity. Under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, there has never been an argument that a former president is immune from prosecution for crimes that he committed while in office.”
Luttig added that “the court is more capable of deciding this very quickly, at a time when the former president can be tried before the election. But today’s decision makes that that much more unlikely.”
As The New York Times reports, Trump’s strategy in these cases has been mainly focused on delay, with the idea that he can pardon himself should he win the election.. In agreeing to hear Trump’s appeal, the Supreme Court has given that strategy a big boost.
Many legal scholars say Trump’s theory of absolute immunity is weak and at odds with past rulings. However, the idea that this court would grant Trump the absolute immunity he desires can’t be ruled out.
Simon Rosenberg from the Hopium Chronicles Substack is back to talk about the facts of the 2024 election cycle. The facts are: Things look bad for Donald Trump—and even worse for the Republican Party.
