Source: Politics<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court\u2019s decision not to immediately consider whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for his effort to subvert the 2020 election may prove to be a short-term legal victory.<\/p>\n
But its implications for the 2024 presidential contest could be sweeping.<\/p>\n
The decision capped an extraordinary 48 hours that underscored just how the courts may be more pivotal to the campaign than debates and diners, and how the Justices, who find themselves with a jammed docket full of Trump-related cases, seem poised to affect the trajectory of the campaign as much as the candidates themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campaign will be conducted in a courtroom, essentially,\u201d said Dick Wadhams, a former Colorado Republican Party chair and longtime party strategist. \u201cAnd that\u2019s worked out well for [Trump] for the past year. They probably are banking on that to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already this week, both Trump and the Colorado Republican Party have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court the state high court\u2019s bombshell decision disqualifying Trump from the ballot because he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
In Michigan, a bombshell report<\/a> revealed both Trump and Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel privately offered to provide legal defense to two GOP canvassers in exchange for not certifying the state\u2019s 2020 presidential vote. That could prove to be a boon to special prosecutor Jack Smith as he seeks to show Trump repeatedly leaned on state officials to overturn the results despite lacking evidence of widespread fraud. The new evidence could also boost Michigan\u2019s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, as she investigates Trump\u2019s efforts to overturn the state\u2019s election results, with some legal commentators suggesting it could be a crime to offer the canvassers costly legal advice in exchange for abdicating their public duties.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court\u2019s roster of Trump matters may end up even more crowded than it already is. In addition to the Colorado case and immunity question \u2014 which is likely to come before the justices again soon \u2014 the high court plans to rule on the scope of a federal obstruction law that could upend two of Smith\u2019s charges against Trump. And Trump\u2019s ongoing challenge of a gag order in his Washington case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court next year as well. Trump has indicated he may bring yet another immunity case to the Supreme Court as he seeks to stall a civil lawsuit in New York brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. <\/p>\n Courts have already found Trump responsible in civil cases for fraudulent business practices, sexual abuse and defamation, even before getting to the charges that could carry jail time.<\/p>\n The Michigan case, too, was a reminder of the unexpected legal landmines that still await Trump as investigations into his allies surge forward in a handful of states, including Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.<\/p>\n The increased court wrangling comes as Trump has stepped up his campaign activity ahead of the early nominating contests, the first of which, Iowa\u2019s caucuses, are less than a month away. Trump has visited Iowa four times recently, along with a recent stop in New Hampshire. His court calendar is crowded with pretrial developments in Florida, Atlanta and New York, but Trump is not required to appear at any of them until his May 20 trial on charges he hoarded classified information after leaving office \u2014 a trial date widely expected to be postponed. That could change once the immunity question is resolved and the timeline of Trump\u2019s Washington case comes back into focus.<\/p>\n The seriousness of the legal cases against Trump could undermine him in a general election. Voters rejected him in 2020, after all. But they do not appear to be damaging him in the primary. And even Trump\u2019s rivals admit that his legal challenges have bolstered his bid. In an interview aired Thursday, Ron DeSantis, who has fallen precipitously in the primary after entering the as Trump\u2019s chief rival, lamented on Christian Broadcasting Network<\/a> that Trump\u2019s indictments had \u201cdistorted the primary\u201d and \u201csucked out a lot of oxygen\u201d from the contest.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say if I could have one thing change, I wish Trump hadn\u2019t been indicted on any of this stuff,\u201d the Florida governor said.<\/p>\n Logistics aside, the constant legal developments are also lending shape to Trump\u2019s campaign narrative \u2014 a slow drip of grievance politics in which Trump casts himself as a victim of the establishment, including the justice system, despite controlling many of its levers for four years as president.<\/p>\n \u201cOther than him doing the periodic big rally, it\u2019s not like he\u2019s a barnstormer, anyway.\u201d said Jason Roe, the former executive director of the state Republican Party in Michigan.<\/p>\n Of the legal drama, he said, \u201cIt overshadows everything, but I still think it\u2019s rocket fuel for Trump. \u2026 I think it feeds right into his whole narrative that everybody\u2019s out to get him.\u201d<\/p>\n In Colorado, where the Trump eligibility case exploded this week, Wadhams said, \u201cIt makes you wonder what is the tolerance level of Republicans for this chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n He said, \u201cSo far it\u2019s been pretty high, but I just have to think that there\u2019s a breaking point. \u2026 It just makes you wonder when Republicans are going to start thinking maybe we don\u2019t want to go through an entire general election campaign with this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.<\/p>\n