It's been a month since the Supreme Court announced its ruling on presidential immunity, and now President Donald Trump's election interference case is set to resume.
On Friday, the Supreme Court's immunity ruling was sent back to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, which, in turn, sent it immediately down to Judge Tanya Chutkan at the district court level to address.
Chutkan was expected to receive the high court's order, known as a "mandate," on Friday, and legal experts have predicted the judge will soon provide a scheduling update for Trump's case in the coming days.
The Supreme Court found on July 1 that presidents enjoy some immunity from criminal prosecution. The high court's majority highlighted problems with special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of Trump, pointing to its mentions of Trump's correspondence with his Department of Justice as one example of presidential activity that is off-limits from prosecution.
If Smith wants to move forward with charging Trump, the special counsel will now likely have to scale back his indictment significantly based on the Supreme Court's ruling.
Chutkan, for her part, would be tasked with determining which actions in the indictment are immunized and which are considered private actions that can still be used against Trump.
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Some experts anticipate that a mini-trial could occur in the coming months, which would involve Chutkan holding hearings to sort through Trump's charges to determine which actions Smith can use against Trump in court. A mini-trial would not produce a verdict but could involve hearing from witnesses and weighing evidence.
Regardless of how the next few months play out, the Supreme Court's ruling was a major victory for Trump as it almost guarantees that a full trial will not take place before the presidential election.
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