Donald Trump got exactly what he wanted from the Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court might have just insured that Donald Trump will not face a criminal trial for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election before the next one. And he may end up avoiding a trial altogether, if he wins the presidency in November and tries to tell his administration to shut down the cases against him.

The former president has repeatedly claimed that he is “immune” from prosecution for actions committed while in office, including, allegedly, leading a multi-state scheme to pressure officials to overturn election results, and failing to stop a mob of his supporters from storming the US Capitol to do it by force.

A federal judge and a federal appeals court have knocked down that defence in damning rulings that outline why, exactly, the president can’t evade liability for crimes committed while in office. But on Wednesday, the nation’s highest court – where three justices were appointed by Mr Trump – agreed to take up the case after he asked them to hit pause on those orders, giving the former president yet another victory in his time-tested legal strategy: delay, delay, delay.

The former president’s pile of civil and criminal cases have created Russian nesting dolls of courtroom battles, with seemingly every case spinning off into appeals courts and separate debates over evidence, gag orders and legal strategies, all of which are buying him time and increasing the likelihood that he won’t face a trial until after the election.

Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments on his “immunity” defence on 22 April. If a ruling comes sooner than later, perhaps in May, and the case is allowed to continue, a jury won’t be selected until later this summer, with a trial wrapping up in October, at the