WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s bid for criminal immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss is set to be decided on Monday by the US Supreme Court. But however it rules, the court already has helped the former president in his effort to avoid trial before the Nov. 5 election.
The ruling from the court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, will be released 20 weeks after he sought relief from the justices. The timeline of the ruling likely does not leave enough time for Special Counsel Jack Smith to try Trump on the federal four-count indictment obtained last August and for a jury to reach a verdict before voters head to the polls.
“The amount of delay that has resulted has made it almost impossible to get the case to trial before the election,” said George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor. “The court should have treated it with much more urgency than it did.”
Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in a 2020 election rematch. He is the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, and already has been convicted in a case in New York state court involving hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. If he regains the presidency, Trump could try to force an end to the special counsel’s case or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes.
The Supreme Court already has handed Trump important victories.
On Friday, it raised the legal bar for prosecutors pursuing obstruction charges in the federal election subversion case against Trump and defendants involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In March, the court threw out a judicial decision that had disqualified Trump from the presidential primary ballot in Colorado.
The speed with which the court dispatched the Colorado case – quickly agreeing to decide it and ruling in Trump’s favor within a month of hearing arguments – contrasted with a sluggish pace in resolving Trump’s immunity bid that has been to his benefit.
Trump’s trial had been scheduled to start on March 4 before the delays over the immunity issue. Now no trial date is currently set. Trump has pleaded not guilty and called the case politically motivated.
“I don’t think that there is any way the case goes to trial before the election,” said Georgetown University law professor Erica Hashimoto. “Even if the Supreme Court were to affirm the lower courts and say that Trump does not have immunity, the trial court still has to decide a bunch of other legal issues.”
A SLIPPING TIMELINE
Smith, seeking to avoid trial delays, had asked the justices in December to perform a fast-track review after Trump’s immunity claim was rejected by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Trump opposed the bid. Rather than resolve the matter promptly, the justices denied Smith’s request and let the case proceed in a lower court, which upheld Chutkan’s ruling against Trump on Feb. 6.
After Trump sought Supreme Court relief on Feb. 12, more than 10 weeks elapsed before the justices would heard the case on April 25, their final day of arguments. And now the ruling will be issued on the final day of the term, nearly nine months after Trump first made a motion to dismiss the charges based on his claim of immunity.
If the Supreme Court rules that former presidents have some degree of criminal immunity — an approach some of the justices appeared to favor during arguments — it could delay the case further. Under one such scenario, the justices could order Chutkan to preside over a potentially time-consuming legal battle about whether certain allegations against Trump must be stricken before the case could advance to trial.
The trial judge also likely will have to decide what, if any, impact the Supreme Court’s decision to heighten the legal standard for prosecutors pursuing obstruction charges against a Jan. 6 defendant will have on Trump, who faces two charges under the same obstruction law.
Chutkan has previously indicated she would give Trump at least three months to prepare for a trial once the case returns to her courtroom. That timeline leaves only a narrow path for a trial to start in October, in the final weeks before the election. A trial so close to Election Day would almost certainly draw claims of election interference from Trump and his legal team.
“The court’s delay in deciding the immunity case has already given Donald Trump a huge win — the delay he sought to push his trial on election interference — and any verdict in the trial -until after the election,” University of Michigan law professor Leah Litman said.
US Supreme Court’s slow pace on immunity makes Trump trial before election unlikely
https://arab.news/c84a2
US Supreme Court’s slow pace on immunity makes Trump trial before election unlikely
- The ruling from the court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump
India rolls out strictest anti-pollution curbs as toxic smog engulfs Delhi
- Private monitors in several parts of northern Delhi recorded AQI spikes between 550 and 700s
- Authorities invoked stage four of the capital region’s emergency pollution-control framework
NEW DELHI: India’s capital choked under a thick blanket of smog on Sunday, with the government imposing anti-pollution curbs after monitoring stations in some areas recorded extremely hazardous air quality.
Home to 30 million people, Delhi has not recorded a single “clean air” day in 2025, with Air Quality Index readings hitting high above the 50 score throughout the year.
On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
Worsening since late October, official records over the weekend were in the severe to severe-plus range of 400–500, but as 24-hour averages, they did not capture the peaks. Private monitors in several parts of North and North West Delhi recorded AQI spikes above 550 and even into the 700s in real-time.
On Saturday evening, the Ministry of Environment’s Commission for Air Quality Management invoked stage four — the highest level — of the Graded Response Action Plan for Delhi and surrounding areas.
To “prevent further deterioration of air quality in the region,” the commission suspended all non-essential construction, shut stone crushers and mining operations, stopped entry of trucks into the capital region, and ordered schools to shift to hybrid classes or online, where possible.
While authorities blamed the pollution on “adverse meteorological conditions,” residents have been demanding more government action.
“The situation is so bad in Delhi that we don’t have any option but to force kids to do online classes. The government has failed us; it has not done anything to address the issue,” said Nabanita Nayak, who decided for her teenage children to attend school online only, despite concerns over their screen addiction.
“If the kids are too much in front of laptops, that’s also an issue. As a mother, I am worried.”
Delhi’s pollution has been worsening since Diwali in late October, when the average AQI has been above 370, or “very poor.” Since mid-November, it has been over 400, which means “severe” air quality, with certain areas recording 500 and above, which is classified as a “hazardous” level.
“I don’t feel proud living in Delhi. It’s the capital city of the country … We talk about being a developed nation by 2047 — we have deadlines,” said Jagriti Arora, who is keeping her 7-year-old daughter at home to prevent allergy flare-ups caused by air pollution.
“The government has to do something … China had a big problem with pollution, but now they’ve managed to bring it down.”
Delhi’s air quality deteriorates in winter due to local emissions and seasonal weather conditions. Cold temperatures and low wind speeds result in a temperature inversion, which traps pollutants close to the ground instead of letting them disperse. This allows emissions from millions of vehicles, ongoing construction, and nearby industrial activity to accumulate in the air. Urban waste burning and dust from construction sites further add to it.
“This is not a new thing. This has been happening now for over 10 years,” Arora said. “You can see it. You don’t need to actually look at an AQI meter to see how bad the pollution is these days.”
