In a win for former President Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined special counsel Jack Smith’s request to fast-track his Jan. 6 case.
This means that, almost certainly, the timetable that Mr. Smith was shooting for—getting the trial started one day before Super Tuesday—has now been thrown out the window. The reason this matters is because the Jan. 6 trial that Mr. Smith is pushing for in Washington is not about the facts of the case. With a D.C. jury pool, it’s pretty much a given that President Trump will be found guilty. And so instead, this is a race against time.
That’s why Mr. Smith and his team of federal prosecutors have been so adamant about starting the trial on March 4—one day before the Super Tuesday primary elections. Doing it this way will not only put a damper on President Trump’s ability to campaign in the primaries, but it’ll also hinder his ability to campaign for the general election. Furthermore, if the trial gets delayed too long and if President Trump gets reelected, that would mean that the entire thing has to be delayed further by another four years—because President Trump wouldn’t be able to stand trial as the sitting president of the United States.