Shadow of doubt: How the Supreme Court could change the course of the 2024 election

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Washington Examiner

Twenty-three years ago, the United States endured one of the strangest presidential elections in history when the Supreme Court decided who would be the victor after more than a month of uncertainty. Now, the 2024 election could look similar in several ways and possibly be even more chaotic.

The so-called hanging chads election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore was handled by recounting small bits of cardboard attached to incompletely hole-punched Florida ballots. The high court ultimately ruled Florida's recount should be stopped on equal protection grounds and gave the victory to Bush despite Gore winning the popular vote.

 

 

Fast-forward 20 years to the post-2020 election months that were plagued by dissonant claims of "election fraud" by former President Donald Trump and his allies, which resulted in an unprecedented riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Around that time, the Supreme Court was denying numerous bids to litigate the outcome of President Joe Biden's win, as U.S. intelligence and Justice Department officials swore that no fraud altered the results of the election.

The forthcoming 2024 election could prompt the Supreme Court to make landscape-altering decisions even before the potential for post-Election Day challenges like the Bush v. Gore case.

 

Here are ways the high court could act between now and the 2025 inauguration:

Ruling on Trump's immunity claims

Trump is facing four criminal indictments levying a combined total of 91 charges, which he says he is "immune" to because of his prior role as commander in chief. Special counsel Jack Smith responded this week by tapping the high court to skip over a federal appellate court and asked the nine justices directly whether his immunity claims stand up to legal muster.