On Friday, December 22, the US Supreme Court offered Donald Trump an early Christmas present by declining to intervene and decide quickly on the question of whether the former president is shielded from federal prosecution for trying to contest the results of the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court’s unsigned judgment did not elicit any significant dissents, which almost guarantees that Trump’s trial on four counts will not start on March 4 as planned while the immunity issue is resolved by the courts.
In a petition on Thursday, special counsel Jack Smith argued that the “public interest in a prompt resolution of this case favors an immediate, definitive decision by this Court” and asked the nine justices of the Supreme Court to “make a decision” on Trump’s immunity.
Trump is getting ready to file an appeal against the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to exclude him from the state’s GOP primary due to his activities during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, which the justices found to be a violation of the Constitution’s Insurrection Clause.
One day prior to Super Tuesday, when 16 states hold primaries or caucuses as part of the presidential nomination schedule, Trump’s trial on federal election charges was scheduled to start.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s records case against Trump, which is connected to 2016 hush money payments, may be the first trial in history against an ex-president due to the probable postponement of Trump’s Washington, DC, trial. The current date of that proceeding’s start is March 25.