Donald Trump's Anticipated Immunity Decision Raises Questions

The pending decision for Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity has raised questions and concerns from some across social media, but an expert told Newsweek what to expect.

Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post reported on X, formerly Twitter, that Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal recently spoke about the delay in the ruling saying, "This issue seems pretty straightforward and I'm hoping they'll act as quickly as possible...I think that judges will understand that justice delayed could be justice denied."

Last year, Trump was indicted federally for alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and other crimes relating to the January 6 riots at the Capitol building. The case was brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith and is currently being presided over by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan.

Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and has insisted that he has presidential immunity, which shields him from being charged with any crimes. In response to Trump's claims, Chutkan ruled that since the former president is not currently in office, he can not use presidential immunity to his advantage.

However, Trump has appealed the ruling and the claims of presidential immunity were sent to a Washington D.C. Court of Appeals for further review. The appeals panel, which consists of three judges, heard oral arguments on the claims last month, but as a ruling has yet to be made, some have questioned when it will come.

"As we await a D.C. Circuit panel's decision on whether Trump has immunity from prosecution in the federal election interference case, I've been looking at how long other high-stakes appellate battles involving Trump have taken," Lisa Rubin, a legal analyst for MSNBC, wrote on X. "And I was surprised to piece together that a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit dismantled Judge Aileen Cannon's appointment of a special master after the Mar-a-Lago search (but pre-indictment) 9 days after oral argument."

While speaking with MSNBC on Thursday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said, "The courts move slowly at the best of times and these are not the best of times."

"It's surprising that we have not seen a decision from the court of appeals in the District of Columbia yet, I think we all anticipated that. It doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem, these are just judges, three judges that have to make a decision together and sometimes that takes time," Vance said.

Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney made similar comments to Newsweek saying, "The oral argument in the matter occurred on January 9th, about three weeks ago. It's tempting to consider that period passing without a decision to be a delay, but that's only because our collective expectation is that the case should be decided within days, not weeks. Of course, the panel deciding the appeal has three judges, each with her own prerogative of how to decide the issue and how to explain any decision."

McAuliffe told Newsweek that since this is one of the "most significant the court, any court, will ever entertain," it would be a "misnomer" to characterize the situation as a delay.

"It'll take as long as it takes to get the decision correct and to explain it in a credible manner. Of course, it's in all the parties' interest to have a timely decision so the next steps toward a resolution of the whole case can be taken––whether that's a trial or an ultimate dismissal," McAuliffe told Newsweek.

Harry Litman, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles said on X, "Yes, each day that the DC circuit opinion on immunity doesn't come out is a day lost for starting the 1/6 trial. But it's worse than that, at least potentially."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.