Whether or not the Supreme Court gives Donald Trump absolute presidential immunity, the ex-president has already scored a big win in his case.
The Supreme Court added Friday, June 14 to its ruling calendar, as America waits to see if former President Trump is granted full immunity from his two federal indictments. But the decisions published Friday didn't deliver on that case, which leaves June 20 and 27 as the final days the Court has to publish a decision on the matter.
Former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann explained that, while Trump may lose the Supreme Court case, in a way, he's already won.
Read Also: Nakedly partisan Supreme Court lets Trump dance above the law
"A useful reminder of how the Supreme Court has already granted Trump de facto immunity, no matter how it rules." he wrote on X. "Of course, it could have not taken the case at all, taken it six months ago when Smith first raised it, or vacated the stay, in part, so pretrial proceedings could proceed."
Weissmann's post was in response to a post from Lawfare's Anna Bower, who explained that if there is a Trump ruling on June 20, it will mean the Supreme Court put the case on hold for about 196 days.
"If Judge Chutkan gives Trump the same amount of time to prepare his defense as before, then Sept. 16 is the earliest jury selection could begin," she wrote on X.
"That math depends on a number of assumptions: That SCOTUS would not immunize Trump and remand the case for trial; that on remand, Judge Chutkan wouldn’t need to make additional findings on the immunity issue and/or that those findings would not be appealable pre-trial. All of this is to say that the prospect of a verdict in Trump’s DC case before the presidential election looks increasingly unlikely. Everything needs to go exactly right for the special counsel’s office if the case is to proceed to trial before Election Day on Nov. 5."
