When the Supreme Court decided last week to review Donald Trump’s immunity claim, the justices said they would hear arguments the week of April 22. We now have the specific hearing date, and it’s … Thursday, April 25. That’ll make Trump v. United States the very last case argued this term.
Really, what’s the rush?
As I wrote earlier this week, setting the hearing for the week of April 22 signaled that the court isn’t overly concerned with when — or even whether — Trump’s federal election inference trial goes forward. They could’ve either rejected the appeal outright and sent it back for trial now, or set an earlier argument date that would give more breathing room for a lengthy trial ahead of the November presidential election (assuming the court ultimately rules against Trump, as expected). Again, if Trump wins the election, the case is as good as gone. Justice delayed is justice denied, as the old legal maxim goes.
The justices then added a day for Trump’s immunity case.
Before the justices set the April 25 date, their calendar for that week showed two arguments in cases on Monday and Tuesday, and one argument on Wednesday. The justices then added a day for Trump’s immunity case that Thursday.
On the one hand, the difference between a day or two won’t necessarily matter in the end. The question will be how long it takes the justices to rule. But when viewed in the context of the court taking up an appeal it didn’t have to and setting it for a later week than it had to, the most recent scheduling move raises the latest question about the fate of the case itself. We won’t know the answer until we have the decision. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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