As Predicted By Me -- SCOTUS Does Agree That Only SCOTUS Can Make The Decision About Criminally Prosecuting a Former President

Some Immediate Takeaways From The Decision, The Question Posed, and the Schedule Set By the Court on the Trump Immunity Claim

The first issue to consider with any decision by the Supreme Court to hear a case is the “Question” — what is it about this particular case that the Supreme Court has decided to decide? In United States v. Trump, that Question is:

Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his time in office?

Note that language and compare it to the following question posed by the Court in United States v. Fischer which I wrote about here:

Did the D.C. Circuit err in construing 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c) (“Witness, Victim, or Informant Tampering"), which prohibits obstruction of congressional inquiries and investigations, to include acts unrelated to investigations and evidence?

Notice the difference? Based on my experience about 95% of all SCOTUS cases state a Question that is specific to the outcome of the case in the court below, and the question is phrased with respect to whether there was an error committed in the court below that SCOTUS needs to correct.

The Question posed by the Court for U.S. v. Trump does not even reference the D.C. Circuit’s decision on the immunity issue as it does in U.S. v. Fischer. For purposes of the SCOTUS review, the D.C. Circuit decision might as well have not even happened. The Supreme Court is not proposing to consider error(s) in that decision — it is going to decide the Question posed as if it were being posed to the Supreme Court in the first instance.