But the day may have come sooner than expected.
“This is a once-a-generation, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime confluence of events where the court confronts a series of very basic and very important issues relevant to self-government — the biggest since the Watergate era,” said John Elwood, a Washington lawyer who argues cases at the court.
Last week, special counsel Jack Smith asked the justices to immediately step in on the immunity issue, which looms large in Trump’s criminal prosecution in Washington, D.C., for election interference. Trump has made a sweeping claim that would lead to charges being dismissed if the Supreme Court were to embrace them.
Now, following a Colorado Supreme Court ruling Tuesday, Trump’s legal team has already said it will immediately ask the justices to overturn the decision saying he is ineligible to run for president in the state because of his role in events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The court, with a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Trump, now has two weighty legal issues to weigh before the 2024 election year even begins: whether Trump has presidential immunity for criminal acts prosecutors allege he committed while in office and whether he is even eligible to run again.
