Donald Trump’s last ditch appeal in his criminal trial is already quickly playing out against him

| 9:09 am EST February 14, 2024
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Even with Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial (Alvin Bragg) now seemingly set to begin next month, Trump is still trying to find a way to delay his federal criminal trial in Washington DC (Jack Smith). Having struck out at every level, Trump is now asking the Supreme Court to delay his trial. Once that fails, he’ll be out of appeals, and his federal trial will start.

No one expects the Supreme Court to stick its neck out for Trump by ruling in his favor given that it keeps going out of its way to stay out of Trump’s criminal troubles. Trump’s only real hope is if the Supreme Court decides to drag out the ruling indefinitely. But that also seems unlikely, given that the court would be attracting the kind of scrutiny it doesn’t seem to want.

Now Chief Justice John Roberts appears to be setting up a swift timetable. He’s only giving Jack Smith until next Tuesday to respond to Trump’s appeal. This is a good sign, because if the court is giving swift deadlines to Smith, that means it’ll likely turn around and give swift deadlines to Trump as well. And if this process plays out swiftly, it means Trump is screwed.

I think the most likely outcome is that the Supreme Court reviews Jack Smith’s response for a week or two and then announces that it’s not taking up the case. The other realistic outcome is that the Supreme Court does take up the case but then sets up a super swift timetable for ruling against Trump. Once either of these scenarios plays out, Trump’s federal criminal trial begins.