Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Case

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could hugely reduce former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Trump wants the court to confirm that former presidents are immune from prosecution for things they did in office. If he’s successful, many charges against him will simply go away.

With eight months still to go before November’s presidential election, Donald Trump already looks certain to win the Republican nomination. He’s also polling strongly against President Joe Biden, who’s struggling with immigration and the economy as well as public worries about his age and mental competence. However, he’s being distracted by an array of criminal charges, including some related to the 2020 presidential election.

Now, Trump has asked the Supreme Court for a ruling on whether he’s immune from prosecution on charges of trying to overturn the election result. On February 28, the high court agreed to hear his case, and also ordered lower courts to stay Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against the former president. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the week beginning April 22, and Trump needs to submit his evidence by March 19.

The specific question the Supreme Court will consider is whether a former president is immune from prosecution over “conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.” If it finds that ex-presidents are immune, that means Smith’s case against Trump collapses because even if he carried out the actions Smith alleges, he can’t be prosecuted for it because they were official acts by the serving president. Trump also argues that, having been impeached and acquitted by the Senate over the same events, he can’t now be prosecuted again.

Smith had been trying to push his case to trial as fast as possible, but it has already been stayed since December. Now, there’s no way he can make any progress before the Supreme Court comes back with a decision, which is likely to be in June or possibly even later. With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court, it’s interesting to see how this will play out.