The Supreme Court’s decision to hear Donald Trump’s claim that he should be shielded from criminal prosecution keeps the justices at the center of election-year controversy for several more months and means any verdict on Trump’s alleged subversion of the 2020 vote will not come before summer.
The country’s highest court wants the final word on the former president’s assertion of immunity, even if it may ultimately affirm a comprehensive ruling of the lower federal court that rejected Trump’s sweeping claim.
For Trump, Wednesday’s order amounts to another win from the justice system he routinely attacks. The justices’ intervention in the case, Trump v. United States, also marks another milestone in the fraught relationship between the court and the former president.
Cases related to his policies and his personal dealings consistently roiled the justices behind the scenes. At the same time, Trump, who appointed three of the nine justices, significantly influenced the court’s lurch to the right, most notably its 2022 reversal of nearly a half century of abortion rights and reproductive freedom.
It shouldn’t have taken any time. They should have denied cert.
The fact that at least 4 justices granted it is beyond ridiculous.
Further, they’ve delayed the hearing until the end of April, which is extremely stupid, they are hearing cases now.
They may not even issue a decision in June with the rest of the cases, it may be next year. And if that’s the case and trump is elected, he could stop the hearing in it’s tracks by pardoning himself.
They seriously took the position "yeah, the ruling that said in this specific instance with Trump, a president cannot be immune. A perfectly reasonable take given there’s so many more mundane reasons why the FBI might convict a former president.
I disagree. I think this question is novel enough that it needs Supreme Court review, not merely letting a lower court ruling stand. That opinion needs to come out at light speed though.