Trump's Monday Supreme Court filing may be 'the whole ball game': legal expert

Monday is purportedly pivotal for Trump.

That's because he will decide whether or not to seek an appeal with SCOTUS. They in turn will then have the power to pause or move the hands of time when it comes to an immunity Hail Mary.

"This is a procedural moment, but really it could be the whole ball game," said former federal prosecutor Elie Honig during an appearance on CNN.

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With March 4 falling by the wayside as the initial trial start date to former President Donald Trump's federal election subversion case, the Supreme Court is cast as the last decider to determine if there will be a trial at all before Nov. 5, when the nation will elect the 47th president.

The case was charged by special counsel Jack Smith, who accused Trump of hatching a scheme to flip the results of his 2020 election defeat to then President-Elect Joe Biden in the lead up to the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

After a three-judge panel of the Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously opposed Trump's absolute immunity argument, they also gave him until February 12, to submit "in writing that he has filed an application with the Supreme Court" to appeal the decision.

Trump's legal fate with the case is distilled down to two potential scenarios.

If Trump fails to meet the Monday deadline and doesn't pursue his immunity claims with the Supreme Court, then Honig said the case "will go back down to the District Court, the trial court, which can resume proceedings and presumably would set a trial date for a few months out."

But Honig remains skeptical that will happen.

Instead he thinks Trump will opt to "go up and ask the Supreme Court either to take the case or to keep everything paused."

He stressed that should the Supreme Court do that, then the case is paused indefinitely "pending the big decision, which is will the Supreme Court take the case?"

So if the nine justices take the case, there's a chance for a summer trial. If not, he said, "that's going to push this whole schedule back to the point where I think it becomes probably unlikely that we see a trial before the election at all."

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