Legal Limbo: Trump and His Foes Await Supreme Court Rulings

As the 2024 election year begins, the U.S. Supreme Court has been pulled directly into the legal web surrounding former President and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, was seeking an expedited ruling from the high court on Trump's claim of presidential immunity in the case. But the court rejected that request, meaning Smith's case will have to play out through the regular appeals process. "Jack Smith's petition, that's out," says Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation. "But, the Supreme Court hasn't yet decided whether they'll take up the question of state efforts to remove Trump from the ballot."

That second question is the more pressing one, as Trump has just filed an appeal with the high court challenging Colorado's recent decision to remove him from the state's primary ballot. Other states, such as Maine, are attempting to do the same thing. Von Spakovsky believes the justices will have to get involved in this issue. "The first election of the 2024 primary is just weeks away, and we have got to get a final decision on this or else we will have electoral chaos," he tells KTRH.

On the other hand, Trump's criminal cases are likely to take much longer to play out, despite a desire by his prosecutors to convict him before Election Day. "I don't expect the trial to begin anytime soon," says Von Spakovsky. "The lower court judge ruled that while the case is stayed, there will be no trial and nothing else happening in the case until that (immunity) issue has worked its way through the appeals process."

Trump's attorneys have now filed a petition to have Smith sanctioned for violating that stay when he sought a ruling from the Supreme Court. Von Spakovsky is not surprised the high court wants to stay out of this hot-button case for the time being. "I think when it comes to the criminal prosecutions of Trump, (the Supreme Court) is going to let those go through the regular appeals process."