Dem
51
GOP
49
Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to rule quickly on the matter of whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution because, well, when the president does it, it is not illegal (at least according to Richard Nixon). The Court refused to speed up the process and ruled that the case had to go through the regular order, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. handling the case first.
This will give Trump some breathing room. But not much. The appeals court will handle the case on Jan. 9 and is expected to rule very quickly thereafter. Then it goes back to the Supreme Court. From the Supreme Court's point of view: (1) the justices can have a nice holiday season without having to deal with this stuff and (2) when they get it again, they will have the appeals court ruling as a guideline, making their jobs easier.
The timing of the Supreme Court ruling is critical. The 1/6 trial is scheduled to begin on March 4, but Trump is trying to delay it. If the Supreme Court gets the case from the D.C. Court of Appeals in February, Trump will try to stall and have the March 4 trial be delayed. The Supreme Court could just sustain the lower court ruling without any hearings if it wants to keep things on track, but Trump will do everything he can to delay, delay, and delay more. In particular, he does not want to be a convicted felon by the time the Republican National Convention opens on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (V)