Trump procedure and abortion
The US Supreme Court influences the election campaign
December 14, 2023, 5:16 a.m
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Proceedings against Donald Trump and abortion – both sensitive topics in the 2024 US presidential election campaign. The Supreme Court has now announced that it will deal with them. In this way, the highest court could help the ex-president.
The US Supreme Court has announced that it will hear a case regarding the storming of the US Capitol. This could also have a significant impact on an indictment against former President Donald Trump.
Specifically, it is about reviewing an appeal ruling on an indictment against several rioters who were involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. You are accused of obstructing an official proceeding. The Supreme Court now wants to address the question of whether the defendants can even be charged with federal obstruction of justice if, according to their defense attorneys, they were convinced they were protesting an illegitimate election.
Trump speaks of a “stolen election”
Trump had denied his election defeat on November 20, 2020 against Joseph Biden and repeatedly emphasized to his supporters that the electoral process was manipulated and that Biden actually lost to him. However, since he had no evidence to provide, Congress was scheduled to ratify the transition between Trump and Biden on January 6, 2021. A large mob of Trump supporters then gathered in Washington and tried to stop ratification by violently storming the Capitol, where Congress meets. Trump had incited his supporters during a speech immediately beforehand. As a result of the riots, five people died.
The storm was seen as an attack on democracy and caused international shock. Since then, numerous people involved have been convicted in several trials on the grounds of obstruction of justice. If the Supreme Court now decides against the guilty verdict of obstruction of justice, not only the trials of already convicted rioters would have to be retried.
Trump, serious indictments and the 2024 presidential election
Obstruction of justice is also one of the charges against Trump in the election fraud trial in Washington. Since the Supreme Court is taking up the issue and has to decide first, the court in Washington paused the case against him. However, the Supreme Court’s decision is not expected until summer 2024.
This delay could play hugely into Trump’s hands in the election campaign. The trial against him for obstruction of justice as a result of the election and as being responsible for the storming of the Capitol was actually supposed to be heard in March 2024. The hearing and a not unlikely conviction based on the previous guilty verdicts of the other parties involved would therefore have taken place before two crucial dates in the 2024 presidential election.
Super Tuesday and the Republican nomination
The first date would have been the so-called Super Tuesday. This will take place on March 5, 2024, with 17 states electing delegates for the presidential election process. The second date is the Republican Party convention in July 2024, at which the Republicans will choose their official presidential candidate.
In polls, Trump is currently the most popular candidate among Republicans. As expected, if he had been found guilty before the deadline, this would not only have been clearly reflected in the contested delegate elections, but would also have made it more difficult for the Republicans to decide to elect a criminal as their official presidential candidate.
Supreme Court rules on abortion pill
The US Supreme Court also announced that it would consider an important case regarding abortion rights in the US. This concerns access restrictions for the abortion pill mifepristone, which an appeals court imposed in mid-August.
These have not yet come into force because the legal dispute continues. The appeals court ruled that certain access relief measures issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2016 should be revoked. These include sending the pill by post and taking it without a medical professional.
The drug’s distributor and the government of US President Joe Biden have lodged an appeal. Mifepristone was approved in the United States in 2000 and is commonly used with the drug misoprostol for abortion. Since the nationwide right to abortion was overturned and so that the parliaments in the US states could regulate by law whether abortions are permitted, mifepristone has gained in importance.
What does abortion rights have to do with choice?
Abortion opponents have therefore sued the US state of Texas against the approval of mifepristone. They want to make access to medical abortion more difficult. The religious right and large parts of the Republican Party in particular have been trying to restrict the right to abortion in the USA for decades.
Nevertheless, the Republican presidential candidates are cautious because recent elections and referendums in various states have shown that abortion is controversial among their electorate. While the candidates initially made clear statements against abortion rights, they have recently tried to avoid the question of their exact positioning – especially so as not to scare away potentially more moderate voters.
The decisions of the US Supreme Court are seen as particularly important by many Republican voters and are rarely questioned. With the announcement that it will take up the case regarding the distribution and shipping of an abortion pill, the court takes a polarizing decision away from the Republican candidates. In the event of a constitutional decision by the court, Trump could simply refer to it.