Washington.- In the coming days, the Supreme Court will face a perfect storm of its own: a trio of decisions that derive directly from the attack on the United States Capitol that occurred on January 6, 2021.
Within days, if not hours, of each other, the justices are expected to decide whether Donald Trump has immunity from criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and whether the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol can be prosecuted for obstructing an official process.
The court will also decide whether former Trump adviser Steve Bannon can stay out of prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a subpoena from the House Committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol.
Those cases are part of a dozen or more disputes involving abortion, homelessness, the power of federal regulators, the opioid epidemic and social media platforms that the justices have pending to decide as they near the end of their traditional employment term.
Taken together, the three cases involving the former Republican president could fuel narratives about the court and its conservative supermajority, which includes three justices appointed by Trump and two other justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who rejected the call not to participate in the January 6 cases because of questions about their impartiality.
From the perspective of Trump and his allies, the results could provide further boost to their claim that the Justice Department has unfairly treated those accused of the Capitol riot.
The results of those cases could give him more reason to criticize those legal processes.
Even if the court were to limit Trump’s immunity or reject his claims, allowing his election interference trial to proceed in Washington, “a verdict is unlikely to be rendered before the election,” said Leah Litman, a law professor. from the University of Michigan.
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