The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will hear former President Donald Trump’s appeal in his Jan. 6 criminal case arguing that he has immunity from prosecution for his actions during his time as president.
For the politically motivated prosecution of Trump, this is a five-alarm fire for the effort to convict the former president before Election Day in November. Regardless of what the court ultimately decides, the odds of a pre-election conviction in the case have dropped precipitously, and Trump is stronger than ever in head-to-head polling against President Joe Biden.
But although it is his administration and the Department of Justice that have brought these charges against Trump, Biden should really be rooting for Trump to prevail at the nation’s highest court, lest he suffer the same fate as his predecessor and possible successor.
Given the unprecedented lawfare faced by Trump since he left office, if he is successful in his campaign to return to the White House in November, Biden should be wary — especially if the court rules against Trump.
Biden has already set the standard that the prosecution of your chief political rival is an acceptable course of action, so if Trump’s Department of Justice prosecutes Biden in February 2025, it would simply be returning the favor. And Trump has already hinted that he will do precisely that.
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But if the Supreme Court rules that Trump is immune from prosecution for his acts as president, Biden would also be protected from any prosecution stemming from his time in office, as would former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton — all of whom could theoretically face the same kind of Justice Department weaponization that Trump is now facing.
If the court rules in Trump’s favor, the possibility of a vicious cycle of presidents directing the criminal prosecution of their predecessors would be stopped in its tracks, as would the long-term damage to America’s political and judicial system. Of all of the people rooting for that outcome, Biden should be its biggest cheerleader — otherwise, he might end up behind bars in the very near future.
