Even if the justices ultimately rule against Trump, the court’s intervention adds a further delay, meaning his trial will not start for weeks, if not months.
So technically the only question before the court is if a President has immunity for official acts.
So I have a feeling what’s going to happen is SCOTUS is going to wait until June/July and rule Presidents have immunity for only official acts and kick this back to the District Court. The District Court will then most likely rule these weren’t official acts so there’s no immunity. This is a question of law so Trump will immediately appeal buying more delay. At this point it’s absolutely not going to make it to trial before election day.
So it all comes down to A) Biden wins and the cases go on to trial – most likely Trump is convicted of something at least. B) Trump wins and either pardons himself or otherwise ends the prosecutions and it’s never decided one way or the other whether these were unofficial acts.
So technically the only question before the court is if a President has immunity for official acts.
So I have a feeling what’s going to happen is SCOTUS is going to wait until June/July and rule Presidents have immunity for only official acts and kick this back to the District Court. The District Court will then most likely rule these weren’t official acts so there’s no immunity. This is a question of law so Trump will immediately appeal buying more delay. At this point it’s absolutely not going to make it to trial before election day.
So it all comes down to A) Biden wins and the cases go on to trial – most likely Trump is convicted of something at least. B) Trump wins and either pardons himself or otherwise ends the prosecutions and it’s never decided one way or the other whether these were unofficial acts.