Alan Feuer

The federal indictment of Donald Trump for plotting to overturn the 2020 election relies in part on the law that the Supreme Court weighed on Tuesday, but was built to survive without it.

The special counsel had asked that the names of about two dozen government witnesses be redacted from a public version of a court filing to protect against potential threats or harassment.

Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that the former president cannot escape prosecution by arguing that the Presidential Records Act allowed him to claim secret government material as his own property.

The push for a quick decision on one of the former president’s most far-fetched claims is an unusual and risky move in a case Judge Aileen Cannon has allowed to become bogged down.

The former president’s lawyers told the judge overseeing the proceedings it would be unfair to put on a defense now because it might reveal his strategy for the criminal case on related charges.

With the former president in attendance, Judge Aileen Cannon held a hearing in federal court in Florida to weigh some of Donald Trump’s motions to have the classified documents case dismissed.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that states may not bar former President Donald J. Trump from running for another term, rejecting a challenge to his eligibility that threatened to upend the presidential race by taking him off ballots around…

Judge Aileen Cannon has previously indicated that she will push back the start of the proceeding from the initially planned date in May. Prosecutors want to begin in July, and the former president in August.

By scheduling a hearing for late April on the former president’s assertion that he cannot be prosecuted for his actions in office, the justices increased the chances that he will not face trial by Election Day.