Supreme Court will decide whether Trump is immune from federal prosecution. Here’s what’s next

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week with profound legal and political consequences: whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution in a federal case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In addition to establishing a potentially historic ruling about the scope of presidential power, the court’s decision — whenever it comes — will undoubtedly go a long way in determining a trial date for Trump in one of the four criminal prosecutions that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces.

A quick decision in the Justice Department’s favor could conceivably put the case on track for trial this fall. But if the court takes until late June to resolve the question, then the likelihood rises substantially that the November presidential election will happen without a jury ever being asked to decide whether Trump is criminally responsible for efforts to undo an election he lost in the weeks leading up to the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

A look at what’s ahead:

A straightforward but legally untested question: whether a former president is immune from federal prosecution for official acts.

Trump is the first ex-president to face criminal charges, making his appeal the first time in the country’s history that the Supreme Court has had occasion to weigh in on this issue.

Though Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president, there’s no bar against charging a former one. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team says the Founding Fathers never intended for presidents to be above the law and that, in any event, the acts Trump is charged with — including participating in a scheme to enlist fake electors in battleground states won