Supreme Court Could Take Away Donald Trump's Favorite Strategy

The U.S. Supreme Court could deal a blow to former President Donald Trump's favorite legal strategy.

The high court quickly agreed last week to hear Special Counsel Jack Smith's petition asking the justices to weigh in on Trump's immunity claim prior to the issue appearing before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The justices have already indicated they plan to decide quickly on whether or not to hear the case, ordering Trump to respond by December 20.

The speed with which the court has proceeded on the matter suggests that Trump's favorite legal strategy—delay, delay, delay—may no longer work in his federal election interference case anymore. Smith has already been highly critical of the tactic in both of Trump's federal criminal cases, imploring judges in court filings not to be "manipulated" by those efforts and telling them that the former president is trying to delay trial "at any cost."

Now, the Supreme Court could give Smith exactly what he's been pushing for. Legal commentator Randall Eliason told Newsweek that the court's response to Smith's petition indicates that the justices are prepared to move forward in a timely matter.

"Although I wouldn't necessarily expect a decision in a couple of days, they certainly could match the speed of United States v. Nixon, which would mean deciding by the end of February," Eliason said.

While many major decisions from the court can take months to decide, it has been able to move quickly on other significant cases. The landmark decision in United States v. Nixon came less than three weeks after oral arguments and the court took only three days, from the initial appeal to the final ruling, to decide Bush v. Gore.

Former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek that while speed shouldn't come at the expense of a full-aired case, "these are all appeals where the parties have fully briefed the issues and the factual record is not in dispute.

"Because of this, the courts are in a position to decide the cases quickly."

It's not only the Supreme Court that has signaled its intentions to move matters along quickly. The Court of Appeals have also decided cases just as rapidly.

"The courts, including the US Supreme Court, appear to understand that a paramount interest exists for them to be responsive to the need for timely adjudications in these January 6th-related cases," McAuliffe said.

On Monday, an appeals court unanimously rejected Mark Meadow's effort to move his Georgia election interference case to federal court just one business day after oral arguments were heard Friday. Meadow, Trump's former chief of staff, is named as a co-defendant along with Trump and 17 others in the Fulton County, Georgia, RICO case.

The decision in Meadows' case could be a sign that the same fate awaits Trump. The D.C. Court of Appeals agreed Monday to set arguments on Trump's immunity appeal for January 9, deciding to schedule the hearings on the former president's motion to dismiss the federal election interference case before a final action from the Supreme Court.

"The D.C. Circuit is giving all indications that it will move very quickly on Trump's immunity appeal, just as the 11th Circuit did in the Meadows case," Eliason said. "They've already set oral argument for January 9, just a week after the last brief is due. I'd expect them to issue a decision very shortly after that, almost certainly sometime in January, which is still very fast for an appeals court."

Although Eliason is predicting that the appeals court will decide before the end of the next month, he still believes the Supreme Court will rule faster, and subsequently take the court of appeals out of the case.

McAuliffe added: "If Trump's strategy is delay all until after the election, then the courts timely decisions likely isn't something he wants. Of course, if a defendant thought immunity was a clear winning issue, one would want to get that issue decided as quickly as possible to secure a dismissal. That doesn't appear to be Trump's approach in the January 6th case."