Donald Trump faced a defeat in court, but still managed to achieve some victories.
A court decided that Mr. Trump can be charged with a crime for things he did while he was president. The decision took a long time, which means that Mr. Trump’s trial for the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 has been delayed.
Mr Trump didn’t get new powers while he was president, and the court date has been taken off the calendar.
And we don’t know when it might come back.
This is in line with the ex-president’s plan to slow down the legal process whenever he can, said Neama Rahmani, who used to work for the government as a lawyer.
Mr Rahmani said Trump wants to wait until after the November election for the case to be solved. “If a sitting president wins control of the White House, they can’t be prosecuted. ”
If Trump’s legal team wants to delay things, there are some steps they could take.
They might ask all 11 judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to look at this case again and think about it. It’s not very likely to work because six out of the eight judges would have to agree, and it’s rare for them to do that.
The court says the case about what happened on 6 January can keep going while they think about the request. Maybe they want to avoid waiting more.
However, Trump has other choices he can make.
He can ask the Supreme Court to make a decision about whether to review his case or not. They can choose to delay the trial on 6 January for now.
It seems like the Trump team will ask the Supreme Court for help, because the appeals court gave them until February 12 to get ready.
That’s where there are more chances for the trial to be delayed or for it to continue as planned.
If the highest court doesn’t agree to hear the case, the election interference case could go back to its usual schedule. If that happens, it’s almost certain that the trial will happen at the earliest by election day.
The judge in charge of the trial might decide to put the case on hold until after Americans vote in November.
“Professor David Super, who teaches constitutional law at Georgetown University, said that the Supreme Court probably won’t agree with the former president’s legal arguments because of past court decisions and American legal customs. ”
“He told the media that in Mr Trump’s opinion, the legal power of US presidents would be very similar to that of monarchs. ”
However, if there is a delay and the Supreme Court rules against him, it would be another victory for the former president. If he wins the election in November, his legal problems at the federal level might go away.
After he becomes president, he could tell his Justice Department to stop the cases, or he could pardon himself.
Mr Trump starting his second term in office would be really impressive. However, it would be quite extraordinary for the previous president to swear in on the Capitol steps, where his supporters had protested four years earlier because he lost the election.