The Trump-appointed judge overseeing his Mar-a-Lago indictment set a trial date for August but legal experts expect that the proceedings will drag out much longer as former President Donald Trump seeks to delay the case.
Aileen Cannon, a controversial judge who earlier issued a series of rulings siding with the former president that were later overturned, has "almost unfettered discretion" on how to manage the trial courtroom, per Politico. This operative authority includes setting the trial date and determining how quickly it proceeds, scheduling deadlines, hearing arguments and entering rulings. The New York Times found that Cannon has only spent 14 days in her already short tenure as a justice overseeing criminal trials, a level of experience that is not commensurate with the weight of the impending trial and its implications.
