Paul welcome to the journal editorial report, im paul gigot. The Supreme Court on wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from prosecution in his federal election interference case. Dealing a blow to special counsel jack smiths effort to try the former president and likely 2024 republican nominee before with no. Oral arguments are now set for late april with a decision expected by late june. A timetable that could push the trial originally set to begin this monday close to election day and possibly beyond. For more on the political and legal implications of the justices decision to take the case, im join ised by Wall Street Journal columnists Dan Henninger, kim strassel and bill mcif gun. So, bill, the bill mcgurn. If Supreme Court didnt have to take this case the Supreme Court didnt have to take this case, and theres an argument for dodging it because they could have let a d. C. Circuit opinion that denied immunity stand. Now they take this, they rule one side or the other is going to hate them. Right. I think you said before the Supreme Court is the only institution in washington thats functioning [laughter] and i think, seriously, i think this proves it because its the easy thing to do would be to just with let it go by. And as you say, its complicated. I dont think theres a Black And White answer. It has to do with whether what he did was in The Outer Limits of his official duties. That line has not been drawn. Paul right. So theres a lot of questions where you draw if it applies to trump. So i dont think theres a clear cut answer on each pseudo. So, again, the easy thing would be to punt because a lot of people are going to be unhappy whatever they choose. I think donald trump benefits, as usual, by having unhinged enemies that overreach all the time if the d. C. Circuit court of appeals had been more modest in what they agreed to, i think the Supreme Court might have not taken it. But i think they put the Supreme Court in a position cant pass the buck, were the place that adjudicates these things, and we have an obligation to the constitution to do it right. And we hope the one thing wed be better on all sides, if they could read the case and just instead of trumps name, read president s, because its going to apply to all all president s afterward, possibly even joe biden. Paul theres a precedent, dan, a Supreme Court case in 1982 where the court said that former president s are, have absolute immunity from prosecution against civil lawsuits. For acts that are within the outer perimeter of his official duties. This case is going to decide if that immunity applies to criminal prosecution as well, and thats what the justices are going to be looking at. With yes, exactly. And, but i think we should say i dont believe the justices are going to themselves decide whether trump committed a criminal act paul no, no, no, not at all. Some people, i think, expect that, that somehow the Supreme Court is going to decide trump committed a crime paul thats for the trial judge. Whats going on here is whether President Trump had immunity for these acts. And if he didnt have immunity, then the case is going to go back to jack smith and judge chut ca. Otherwise, or it goes back to the trial court for a finding of fact paul probably if the Court Remands that case back, finds he the does have absolute immunity and then says, okay, but we dont know if these acts were in the outer perimeter. Thats for the trial court to look at and investigate and go back and lets keep in mind theres an almost obsession around the idea that this involves donald trump. And i think whats important here is that the Supreme Court understands what have they do is going to set a precedent which would, could affect if future president s. President s make tougher decisions all the time. And if a president has to sit there while in office trying to figure out whether hes going to be criminally prosecuted after hes out of office, theyre going to be consulting with white house lawyers all the time rather than Making Decisions in the interest of the public good. Paul and that was the argument about civil lawsuits in the nixon v. Fitzgerald case. Kim, lets talk about the timeline here. This really does push things back for jack smith. Lets say that the president has, is found not to be immune, jack smith, and then go to the trial. But the Supreme Court, they wont issue a ruling until may or maybe even june. And then that will push the trial judge has said the parties need, you know, as much as three months to prepare for the trial. If that pushes it right into september which is, i mean, talk about a tough decision for Merrick Garland. Are you going let that trial proceed in the middle of a campaign . Well, to be very clear, Department Of Justice guidelines would say that you would absolutely not allow that trial to continue because they have a very firm rule written around the Justice Department interfering or using prosecutions or engaging in prosecutions in a a way that can affect the outcome of elections. Theyve always struck very strongly to that. By the way, Ask Hunter Biden whose own prosecution we now know was delayed multiple times because of the fear that this would somehow interfere with Joe Biden Ask and his campaigning. And hunter wasnt even the one on the ballot. So they have taken it very seriously in the past. Tough call for Merrick Garland, but the pressure is going to be huge, paul, because the left is already fretting and rubbing its hands about what will happen if this gets pushed beyond the election and, therefore, trump if if he were to win would have the ability to dodge any more prosecution because doj policy says you dont prosecute sitting president s or potentially just ab absolve himself. Paul and if the court finds that trump does have immunity and sends the case back to the trial court for fact finding, hen that probably extends it past the election and maybe even into 2025. All right. Still ahead, as voters in 16 states get set to head to the polls, will Super Tuesday be make or break for nikki haley . Plus, a warning sign for President Biden as a Protest Campaign in michigan gets more than 100,000 votes. R well talkdr to karl rove next. Insurance and i saved hundreds. Thats great. I know, right . Ive been telling everyone. Baby liberty. Did you hear that . Ty just said her first word. Can you say mama . Baby liberty. Can you say auntie . Baby liberty. How many people did you tell . Only pay for what you need. Jingle liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Baby liberty. Anthony this making you uncomfortable . Good. When youve got Type 2 Diabetes like me, you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack or worse death. Even when meeting your a1c goal. Discomfort can help you act. Im not trying to scare you. Im empowering you. To get real with your health care provider. Talk to them about lowering your risk of stroke, heart attack or death. Zyrtec works hard at hour 1 and twice as hard when you take it again the next day. So betty can be the. Barcode beat conductor. Lets be more than our allergies and for fast allergy relief with a powerful decongestant, try zyrtecd. Paul the biggest day of the 2024 primary race is three days away as voters in 16 states get set to head to the polls on Super Tuesday. Republican frontrunner donald trump is looking to build on this weeks win in michigan and knock challenger nikki haley out of the race once and for all. But tuesdays results in the wolverine state reveals some political per if april for the former president as well as for President Joe Biden with more than 10 is 0,000 michiganders Voting Uncommitted in the democratic primary. Lets bring in Fox News Contributor and Wall Street Journal columnist karl rove. Karl, welcome. Ing what did we learn of consequence from the michigan results for the two candidates . Lets start with trump. Well, theres a little bit of bad news amidst all the good news. He won and he won convincingly. But take a look at this. In iowa Donald Trumps final vote was 4 points under the real clear politics average for what they were projecting his margin to be. In New Hampshire, 8 points under. In South Carolina, 3 points under the average. Theres no average for michigan, there were only two polls in the weeks running up to it. So, but it was he ran 10 points behind the margin that was anticipated and won and 18 points behind the margin in the other. So there is something going on out there with a large number of people who are supporting, you know, nikki haley. Not, obviously, shes not winning, but shes got a significant number of people supporting her. And for some reason, hes consistently coming in below what the polls are projecting n. 2016 we had the shy voter, the people who said paul right. Because it may be socially unacceptable. We may have the reverse this time. Paul for joe biden, that big 100,000 votes cast for uncommitted is a pretty big signal for biden. But with i guess the question is, is that sort of just a temporary rebuke and once the choice becomes biden versus trump in the fall, theyll return to biden . Yeah. Well, thats a big question. And, look, there is traditionally 23 of the vote in michigan is for uncommitted, even in Barack Obamas reelection bid there was a small number of uncommitted. But it is a significant number. But thats only one of the problems. The other problem is, look, hes been getting good numbers, 96 in South Carolina, 64 as a writein, 81 in michigan. But heres the big issue, another big issue that we havent paid as much attention to. In South Carolina four years ago, 539,000 voted. This time 131,000 voted in the democratic primary. New hampshire, 298,000 voted in the democratic primary four years ago, this year 124,000 paul right. Michigan, 1. 6 million, 768,000. So some of that dropoff is its not seriously contested, but also i think part of it is were not enthused, say a lot of democrats, particularly younger, black and hispanic democrats. Paul nikki haley, on tuesday does she have to win own were one or two states to have a credible case for going on . I think she does. But she lost South Carolina and then the got a Million Dollars in small donations in the next 24 hours. And when she went to detroit, michigan, if you watched that video, you would have thought she had just come off a huge win in the palmetto state. Of theres something going on there. People are sort of saying, you know what . I want to send a message, im for anybody but donald trump inside the republican party. Well see how that is this next week, but shes got to do better than she did in her own home state to stay in, i suspect. Paul what about the argument that shes saying staying in the race to rack up some delegates so she has some leverage come the Republican Convention in july where she could negotiate with the trump folks and say, look, uhuh deserve a prominent Speaking Position at the convention and, you know what . You should make some Policy Compromises with me because i have a lot of support for some of those particularly like aid to ukraine or nato. Yeah, i think that thats plausibling. Im not certain donald trump finds himself in a a position where he ever thinks he needs to negotiate if hes to got more delegates. But i think thats well with worth her staying in, to make that message. And, look, shes been sustained in this not by some huge force, but by lots of ordinary americans who say i want to have a choice. Shes been outspent and shes running against the incumbent. He is the former president , after all paul right. And for her to do as well as shes done so far is an indication, you know, majority of republicans in iowa voted for somebody else. 40 some odd percent in New Hampshire voted for somebody else. 40 in South Carolina voted for somebody else. I mean, theres a significant number of people inside the republican party, excuse me, 30 in South Carolina voted for somebody else. Theres a significant number of people who are saying we want to have, you know, a different nominee, and donald trump has got to do something to patch that up. Paul but is that the dominant your mention of trump the running as an incouple belt, essentially, quasiincumbent, is that the dominant fact on the republican side of this are election primary campaign . Republican voters just think, look, he was denied a Second E Eternal for whatever reason, and we just think he deserves another shot at joe biden, thats what really fundamentally whats been going on here . Yeah. I mean, thats a significant driver. Obviously, theres another driver of, you know, the forces he are represents ideologically, maga, the neoisolationist, neotoprotection ifist views that we have. But i think the main driver is he was our nominee, he was our president , times were better. Something happened to him in that last election, maybe i believe it was stolen or he simply lost, but he deserves another shot. And i think thats the main driver in it. Paul all right, karl, thanks so much for kohling in. When we come back, as Mitch Mcconnell winds down his historic 17year tenure as leader of the republican senate, a look at his legacy and whatss next for the senate republicans. Even if you have a big trip to plan around. Thanks i mean, i can see you right now if thats. Convenient. Visionworks. See the difference. Every day, more dog people are deciding its time for a fresh approach to pet food. Developed with vets. Made from real meat and veggies. Portioned for your dog. And delivered right to your door. Its smarter, healthier pet food. Is it possible to count on my internet like my Customers Count on me . It is with comcast business. Keeping you up and running with our 99. 9 network reliability. And security that helps outsmart threats to your data. Moaire dida twoo . Your data, too. Theres even roundtheclock customer support. So you can be there for your customers. With comcast business, reliability isnt just possible. Its happening. Get started for 49 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to a 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet package. Dont wait, call and switch today one of lifes most underappreciated talents is to know when its time to move on to lifes next chapter. So i stand before you today, mr. President and my colleagues, to say thisll be my last term as republican leader of the senate. Its time for the next generation of leadership. Paul that was Mitch Mcconnell this week announcing that he will step down as republican leader after the november election. Marking the end of his 17year tenure at the top of the gop conference, the longest serving Senate Leader in american history. Mcconnell will perhaps be best remembered for remaking the federal judiciary and the confirmation of 234 judges including 3 Supreme Court justices during the Trump Presidency alone. But the 82yearold acknowledged on wednesday that the politics within his party have changed and that it is time for a new generation of leaders in the senate. We are back with our panel. So, kim, what do you think Mitch Mcconnells legacy is as Senate Leader . Well, hes going to have a lot of legacies, paul, but i think the ones hard going to be remembered are, most importantly, the efforts he got to get a majority starting in 2014 and to keep that majority there in the early parts of the trump years. That was especially important when you had that, when antonin scalias death happened, and he kept that seat open. He essentially at that point put donald trump and his pick for a Supreme Court on the ballot. That may well have helped donald trump win that election are. Obviously, they went on for, to fill three Supreme Court seats under Donald Trumps tenure, remade part of the federal jewish disturbly and used that majority to really enable other aspects of the Trump Presidency from the if tax cuts, for instance, to rolling back a lot of obama regulations. This was a guy who knew how to get things done as a Majority Leader. Paul i dont think donald trump is president in he doesnt keep that if he doesnt keep that seat open. They wouldnt have the court legacy without mcconnell. So the left, obviously, dislikes mcconnell for the reasons kim said, he was effective. Why do so many conservatives dislike him . Well, you know, they call him a rino, republican in name only. They beli