WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s bid for criminal immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss is set to be decided on Monday by the US Supreme Court. But however it rules, the court has already helped the former President in his effort to avoid trial before the November 5 election.
The ruling from the court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, will be released 20 weeks after he sought relief from the justices. The timeline of the ruling likely does not leave enough time for Special Counsel Jack Smith to try Trump on the federal four-count indictment obtained last August and for a jury to reach a verdict before voters head to the polls.
“The amount of delay that has resulted has made it almost impossible to get the case to trial before the election,” said George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor. “The court should have treated it with much more urgency than it did.”
Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in a 2020 election rematch.
He is the first former US President to be criminally prosecuted and already has been convicted in a case in New York state court involving hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. If he regains the presidency, Trump could try to force an end to the special counsel’s case or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes.
The Supreme Court already has handed Trump important victories.
On Friday, it raised the legal bar for prosecutors pursuing obstruction charges in the federal election subversion case against Trump and defendants involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In March, the court threw out a judicial decision that had disqualified Trump from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado.
The speed with which the court dispatched the Colorado case — quickly agreeing to decide it and ruling in Trump’s favour within a month of hearing arguments — contrasted with a sluggish pace in resolving Trump’s immunity bid that has been to his benefit.
Trump’s trial had been scheduled to start on March 4 before the delays over the immunity issue. Now no trial date is currently set. Trump has pleaded not guilty and called the case politically motivated.
“I don’t think that there is any way the case goes to trial before the election,” said Georgetown University law professor Erica Hashimoto. “Even if the Supreme Court were to affirm the lower courts and say that Trump does not have immunity, the trial court still has to decide a bunch of other legal issues.”
Agencies

Agencies