WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is expected to issue a long-awaited ruling Monday on whether former President Donald Trump can claim immunity from prosecution for at least some of his actions in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Chief Justice John Roberts announced Friday that Monday will be the last day of rulings in the current nine-month trial, with the Trump case still pending.
Decisions will be made one at a time starting at 10:00 a.m., with Trump’s case coming last.
The court has already faced harsh criticism from the left — both for pre-empting Trump’s case, which prevented a trial in March, and for taking so long to resolve it, making it difficult, if not impossible. it should be started before the election.
Trump is facing four charges after a mob of his supporters tried to block Congress from confirming the nomination of President Joe Biden in an effort to nullify the 2020 election that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
But time is running out for the trial to take place before the November election, when Trump is trying to regain power.
Even if the Supreme Court on Monday rejects all of Trump’s immunity arguments and says the trial can go ahead, it likely won’t start until September.
Depending on the timeline set before the appeals process begins, it can take three months for a trial to begin after a High Court decision, and it can last up to 12 weeks.
The legal question before the court “is whether, and if so, to what extent, a former president can exercise presidential immunity from prosecution for conduct allegedly related to official acts while in office,” the order said.
Although Trump initially made a broad immunity argument, his attorney retracted these claims during April’s oral argument. He admitted that some of the acts alleged in the indictment were not part of Trump’s official duties. Trump’s lawyers have long conceded that Trump is not immune from any conduct that is not an official act.
Lower courts rejected Trump’s claim of broad immunity, prompting him to seek intervention from the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three of his appointees.
Based on oral arguments, it seemed likely that the court would conclude that there might be some conduct subject to immunity in the indictment. The justices could order a new trial to determine which official acts receive immunity, and then send it to lower courts to determine how that affects Trump’s impeachment.
This may further delay the start of the trial.
In other cases to be decided Monday, the two are challenging Republican-backed state laws seeking to regulate social media platforms. Another case is when companies can challenge the adoption of federal agency regulations.