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The Supreme Court could decide several cases connected to Donald Trump in the coming months.
Some of the cases stem from the former president's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss which led up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
A case from Colorado means the court—which has three Trump appointees and a conservative majority—could have a significant impact on the 2024 presidential race. The court's decisions could also affect the start of Trump's trial in his federal election interference case, which is currently scheduled to begin in March.
Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, is also fighting three other criminal prosecutions. He has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases and portrayed the charges against him as politically motivated attacks aimed at derailing his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.
Here are some of the most important cases linked to Trump that the nation's highest court will, and could, decide.
1. Trump v. Anderson
The Supreme Court said earlier in January that it will decide whether Trump can be kept off presidential ballots because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The justices agreed to take up Trump's appeal after Colorado's Supreme Court removed him from the state's Republican presidential primary ballot, ruling that he is ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause because of his actions related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The high court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars those who "engaged in insurrection" from holding office. Oral arguments have been scheduled for February 8.
2. Fischer v. United States
The Supreme Court will soon hear an appeal that could upend hundreds of charges stemming from the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
The justices will review a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding—referring to the disruption of Congress' certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory—that has been brought against hundreds of people in the massive federal prosecution following the Capitol attack.
It is among the four counts brought against Trump in special counsel Jack Smith's case that accuses him of conspiring to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss, and the court's decision to affect the start of Trump's trial, scheduled to begin on March 4. The court will reportedly hear arguments in March or April, with a decision expected by the summer.
3. Trump v. United States
Trump has argued that he is immune from prosecution on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal case against Trump, has rejected Trump's arguments that a former president could not be prosecuted over acts that fall within the official duties of his job. The office of the president "does not confer a lifelong 'get-out-of-jail-free' pass," she wrote in her ruling last month.
Smith, in a bid to keep the case on schedule, asked the Supreme Court to take up and rule quickly on the matter, but the justices declined. Chutkan has put the case on hold while Trump pursues his immunity claims.
The issue will now be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but the nation's highest court could still get involved at a later date.
4. Garland v. Cargill
The Supreme Court in November agreed to decide whether a Trump-era regulation banning bump stocks—gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly—violates federal law.
The justices said they would review the Biden administration's appeal of a ruling by a lower court that invalidated the ban.
The Trump administration banned bump stocks in 2019 after a gunman used bump stock-equipped weapons to massacre dozens of people from a high-rise hotel in Las Vegas in 2017. Gun rights advocates have challenged the ban, and federal appeals courts have come to different decisions about whether the regulation defining a bump stock as a machine gun is in accordance with federal law.
Oral arguments in the case are set for February 28.
5. Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton
The court will decide whether state laws that seek to regulate major social media companies violate the First Amendment.
The justices will review two laws enacted by Republican-dominated legislatures in Florida and Texas.
Lawmakers in those states sought to prevent companies like Facebook, TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, from censoring users based on their viewpoints, especially conservative viewpoints. Oral arguments are scheduled for February 26.
6. E. Jean Carroll v. Trump
Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss a civil defamation lawsuit against him on immunity grounds were rejected by a federal appeals court this week, leaving the door open for a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court.
Columnist E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit seeks over $10 million in damages from Trump for comments he made in 2019 after she first publicly accused him of raping her in the dressing room of a luxury department store. Trump denied encountering her in the store or even knowing her.
In May last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a separate lawsuit but rejected the claim that he raped her. He was ordered to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.
A judge ruled the jury's findings applied to the long-delayed lawsuit Carroll filed in 2019 as well. The question of damages will be determined during a trial scheduled to begin on January 16.
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About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more