Legal experts believe the U.S. Supreme Court will reject Donald Trump's claim of immunity for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, but spending months on the matter could help him reclaim the presidency by delaying a massive criminal trial.
Trump's lawyers have argued that he should be immune from prosecution for his efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's election victory since he was president, but lower courts have dismissed this claim.
The Supreme Court's decision to delay its arguments until late April diminishes the likelihood that Special Counsel Jack Smith's election subversion trial might be completed before the Nov. 5 U.S. election. Trump is cruising to the Republican nomination to oppose Biden.
The Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, was slammed for delay by legal experts.
"They could have set a more aggressive briefing and argument schedule, as Smith requested," said Michigan law scholar Leah Litman. Also absurd are immunity claims. They could have been rejected on legal briefs if they chose to decide." Litman said, "They'll reject his immunity bid," but a judgment is expected in May. Legal experts suggested the court must rule by June 1 to finish Trump's trial on the accusations before Election Day.
On Dec. 11, Smith requested the justices to expedite the immunity claim consideration to minimize trial delays. On Dec. 22, the justices did as Trump requested, delaying the review to let the dispute play out in a lower court.
The District of Columbia Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's Dec. 1 immunity claim rejection on Feb. 6. Trump petitioned the Supreme Court to freeze the D.C. Circuit ruling on Feb. 12. Smith requested the justices to deny Trump's delay request on Feb. 14. Two more weeks passed before the court indicated it would hear arguments the week of April 22.
This is one of four criminal charges against Trump. New York state court has scheduled a March 25 trial for hush money given to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. When the other criminal cases will be tried is unknown.
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