The Supreme Court of the United States has set for April 25 the debates on the question of criminal immunity invoked by Donald Trump as ex-president, according to the Court's calendar for the month of April, published Wednesday 6 March.
A federal appeals court ruled out this criminal immunity on February 6. Donald Trump therefore turned to the Supreme Court to obtain the suspension of this decision. The highest American court decided on February 28 to take up this issue, further postponing the federal trial of the former president for attempting to illegally reverse the results of the 2020 election.
Targeted by four separate criminal proceedings, the presumptive Republican candidate for the November presidential election seeks, through his multiple appeals, to go to trial as late as possible. His trial for unlawful attempts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden was originally scheduled to begin on March 4. But the entire procedure was suspended while the question of his potential criminal immunity was decided by the courts.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is investigating the case, on the contrary urged the Supreme Court to reject this suspension request. He also recommended that she not take up the issue, but if she ever did, to set an accelerated timetable. The Supreme Court partly satisfied Donald Trump by not allowing the appeal decision to come into force until it had ruled on it itself. By scheduling the debates for "the week of April 22", she on the other hand grants the special prosecutor's request for an early deadline.
A trial before the presidential election unlikely
But most legal and political commentators view the Supreme Court's decision as a success for Donald Trump's delaying strategy, since it further reduces the chances that the trial can take place before the presidential election, even if the nine justices rejected his immunity.
His federal trial in Florida for his alleged casual handling of classified documents, also being prosecuted by special prosecutor Jack Smith and scheduled to begin May 20, is also expected to be postponed for several months. Jack Smith's team last week proposed July 8 as the new start date for the trial.
Donald Trump's lawyers, reiterating their opposition to a trial "before the end of the 2024 presidential election", nevertheless mentioned the date of August 12, but suggested to the court to wait until the Supreme Court has ruled on the criminal immunity claimed by their client.
If he were again nominated as the Republican candidate and then elected to the presidency next November, he could, once inaugurated in January 2025, order an end to federal proceedings against him.
