The Supreme Court’s decision to take up former President Donald Trump’s immunity appeal in the D.C. election subversion case suddenly gave the judge overseeing his Florida classified documents case, “even more power” than she already had, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled arguments in Trump’s bid for presidential immunity from prosecution in D.C. for late April, stalling the case for months. The decision came as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee overseeing the Florida case, is expected to reconfigure the timeline for Trump’s Florida trial as soon as Friday, according to Politico. The Florida trial has been scheduled for May 20 but has long been expected to be pushed back due to delays caused by fights over pre-trial motions and classified evidence.
“A decision by Cannon to push back the Florida case could clog the calendar in late summer, making a 2024 trial in Washington on the federal election charges all but impossible, even if the Supreme Court lifts the freeze in the election case soon after it is argued,” Cheney and Gerstein wrote.
Along with the D.C. case, Trump’s lawyers have also filed a motion arguing that presidential immunity also shields him from most of the charges filed by special counsel Jack Smith in the classified documents probe.
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin posited that the motion “could have been a decisive factor” in prompting the Supreme Court to take up Trump’s immunity bid.
“And now, the court's decision to hear the immunity question on April 22 will likely influence Judge Cannon's scheduling conference in that case this coming Friday,” she tweeted. “After all, Trump's team will argue, with his immunity defense in the balance, how can she possibly schedule a trial at all? Watch them demand a stay of all proceedings.”
