Reaction To Supreme Court Set To Hear Trump/Immunity Arguments

HEMPSTEAD, NY — With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear oral arguments in former president Donald Trump's immunity claim, it potentially pushes a DC trial date closer to the election.

"The Supreme Court is participating in the delay of justice," James Sample, a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University, told Patch.

Sample finds it troubling that the justices refused Special Counsel Jack Smith's request in December to, in effect, address the immunity issue before the DC circuit's ruling.

Worse still, Sample said, the lower court's decision delivered a "clear, powerful, unanimous opinion," so "there was no necessity to take this up."

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments during the week of April 22. He estimates at least another month until a decision is released.

"No matter how the court rules on the merits of the absurd claim of absolute immunity, the mere act of taking the case, and of taking it on such a 'slow-walked' basis, means that it is almost certain that Trump won't face trials in the two federal criminal cases before the election," Sample said.

The only strategy that Trump has is to "decry, degrade and delay," Sample said. "The net result of that is we have one individual who is effectively making himself above the law."

The DC case surrounds the events leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.

"The 2020 attempted coup failed. The 2024 attempted coup is very much underway," Sample said. "It may not be as visually striking and jarring as the events of January 6, but it may well be more effective."

As it currently stands, the New York criminal case involving hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels is scheduled to begin next month.

"If nothing else, [Manhattan D.A.] Alvin Bragg deserves some credit for taking on the tall task, and he may lose the case, Trump may not be convicted," he said. "Alvin Bragg would still be the only person in the country who's made Trump stand for a criminal trial."