E. Barrett Prettyman in 2023 A U.S. courthouse is where Judge Tanya Chutkan is hearing a case accusing Donald Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 U.S. election.
Mandel Yan/AFP via Getty Images
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Mandel Yan/AFP via Getty Images
The election interference case against former President Donald Trump returns to a federal judge in Washington on Friday.
What happens next, and how quickly, now depends on Judge Tanya Chutkan. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority gives her a lot of work to do.
The six-justice majority handed Trump a major victory last month, ruling that he should enjoy substantial immunity from prosecution for official actions he took in the White House, including his efforts to get Justice Department leaders to support him in the election False accusations of fraud.
Legal experts say Chatkan will need to review evidence at the heart of the historic four-felony case to determine whether Trump’s other alleged actions are constitutionally protected as official steps by the president or whether they count as personal conduct for a candidate seeking political office .
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denounced all four criminal cases against him as election interference. Now-President Joe Biden has said he had no role in any prosecutions, a position confirmed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in testimony to Congress.
Trump is unlikely to stand trial in Washington before the election this November. The Supreme Court ruling means Trump or special counsel Jack Smith can appeal any lower court decision on what counts as official conduct before a jury is heard.
If Trump wins at the ballot box this year, he could order the Justice Department to dismiss the case in Washington, D.C. or try to pardon himself.
