On Monday, as we covered at the time, former and potentially future President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in to keep his January 6 case on hold due to claims of presidential immunity. The Court has now told Special Counsel Jack Smith that he must respond by February 20.
The Hill, which reported on both the appeal and the Court's response, highlighted the amount of time the justices are giving Smith here:
In a brief order, the high court ordered Smith to respond by Tuesday, Feb. 20, not a particularly speedy schedule.
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By next Tuesday, the special counsel will now have to respond to Trump’s latest tactic: requesting his trial be kept on hold until he can ask the full District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to review his immunity claims, and then, if needed, the Supreme Court.
The timeline for Smith’s response isn’t fast compared to how the Supreme Court has handled some recent emergency applications, however, a signal the justices aren’t viewing Trump’s case with particular urgency.
Curt Levey, a constitutional law attorney and the president of the Committee for Justice, who weighed in about the request last night as well, also shared his thoughts with Townhall on the timing. "Giving Smith a week may suggest the Court wants a thorough response from Smith, which in turn would indicate that it plans to carefully consider Trump’s stay request," he offered.
It's looking increasingly possible that the trial in the January 6 case, originally set for March 4, just before the Super Tuesday primary schedule, will not take place as scheduled. It had been paused while Trump appealed the issue of presidential immunity.
If Trump can avoid a trial before the election, and he ends up taking office once more, he can pardon himself or direct his own Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop the case.
The delay tactics and timing look to be President Joe Biden's worst nightmare as he's weaponized his DOJ against his political opponents. As Matt covered, Politico put a piece over the weekend revealing that Biden was particularly frustrated with the speed Attorney General Merrick Garland was moving concerning the election interference charges brought against Trump. The New York Times in April 2022 had also revealed that Biden "has said privately that he wanted Mr. Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan. 6."