WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision to consider whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from prosecution in his federal 2020 election interference case could push a trial close to Election Day — or even beyond this year.
The announcement Wednesday was a victory for Trump’s efforts to delay the criminal case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, setting arguments for late April. The Supreme Court will decide a legally untested question: whether former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they take in office.
The action injects immediate uncertainty into the legal and political calendar over the next several months. It could mean that the election this fall might happen without a jury ever being asked to decide whether Trump is criminally responsible for efforts to undo an election he lost in the weeks leading up to the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Of the four criminal cases Trump faces, the only one with a trial date that seems poised to hold is a New York state prosecution charging him with falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments to a porn star, slated to begin in late March.
A look at what’s ahead:
Can the trial happen before the election?
That’s unclear.
If the court rejects Trump’s immunity claim, the timing of the justices’ decision will be crucial in determining whether it’s possible for the case…
