How Supreme Court delays gave Trump what he wants before 2024 elections

On 1 August, 2023, Donald Trump was federally indicted for his failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Two months later, his attorneys argued that the charges should be tossed out, citing his presidential “immunity” from prosecution for crimes allegedly committed while he was in office.

A growing body of legal experts and constitutional scholars have repeatedly warned that the defence is absurd, far-reaching, and dangerous to democracy.

By December, federal prosecutors were asking the US Supreme Court to step in and settle the question once and for all, hoping to keep the case moving swiftly to prevent the possibility of a criminal trial against president-elect Trump – or the potential for a President Trump to find a way to throw out the case altogether if he is sworn back into office in 2025.

The nation’s highest court denied that request. The justices didn’t agree to look at the case until 28 February. But rather than affirm lower-court decisions that rejected Mr Trump’s “immunity” claim, the justices scheduled oral arguments on that question on 25 April – the last day of arguments for the court’s 2023-2024 session. A decision isn’t expected until this summer.

The former president’s legal strategy largely boils down to delaying, by any means necessary, the growing pile of criminal and civil threats against him in courtrooms across the country.

Supreme Court justices delivered him a key victory. The months of debate and delays – culminating in the Supreme Court slow walking one of the most important tests of presidential power in American history – have all but ensured that voters will not see a verdict in a trial to determine if he unlawfully conspired to overturn an election before