On Wednesday, the Supreme Court accepted a case regarding the charges against former President Donald Trump and his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election which could have major complications for special counsel Jack Smith’s efforts to prosecute him in Washington D.C.
The Supreme Court Justices agreed to hear arguments on the case which questions the scope of an obstruction law which hundreds of Jan 6th defendants have been charged with as well as former President Trump. The statute, Section 1512(c)(2) is under challenge and apply to two of the four charges facing the former president.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is determined to keep to the rigid timeline of March 4th’s trial date to prosecute Trump but with the Supreme Court looking into two challenges of law, that date seems very unrealistic.
Former federal prosecutor Bill Shipley posted on X, “The decision by SCOTUS today to take up the appeal on the 1512 ‘obstruction of an official proceeding’ case means the Trump DC case will not be going to trial. This is the easy way to make that happen without directly acting on the Trump case on an expedited basis.”
Currently the indictment against Trump alleged “a conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified.”
Smith seems to be doing everything he can to keep the trial dates on schedule despite the many appeals from Trump’s legal teams. Trump’s attorney’s are screaming that this rush to trial is “unconstitutional and fundamentally an unfair trial.”
Trials for other charges Trump faces in various states have also faded into the background where it appears extremely unlikely that any trial would conclude or possibly even begin, before the 2024 election.