End of Trump cases leaves limits on presidential criminality unclear

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

41% : (Smith left the door open to, in theory, refiling the charges after Trump leaves office, but the statute of limitations is likely to have run by then.)
37% : It also means that two open constitutional questions the cases have raised appear likely to go without definitive answers as Trump takes office.
37% : The uncertainty that will linger over those questions could have implications for the future of American democracy beyond whatever constraints Trump will -- or will not -- feel over the course of his second term.
36% : Both cases against Trump -- for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his later hoarding of classified government documents and obstruction of efforts to retrieve them -- were short-circuited by the fact that he won the 2024 election before they could be definitively resolved.
34% : The legal legitimacy of Cannon's ruling attracted skepticism, in part because she was dismissive of precedent by higher courts and in part because she had a history of showing Trump unusual favor, only to be overruled by an appeals court.
32% : Roberts, however, drafted his ruling in a way that left many questions unanswered -- perhaps in part because there was an expectation that the matter would come back before the Supreme Court at least once more to be refined before Trump could go to trial, at least if he lost the election.
32% : Smith appealed her ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Atlanta.Smith told that court on Monday that he was dropping that appeal as it applied to Trump.
23% : The result is not just that Trump appears set to escape any criminal accountability for his actions.
22% : Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought both cases against Trump, asked courts on Monday to shut them down.
12% : He did not drop the appeal concerning the other defendants in that case -- two employees of Trump's who are accused of helping him in the documents conspiracy -- but Trump is widely expected to pardon them upon his inauguration, killing off the remainder of the case.
5% : He also did not definitively say whether most of the other actions for which Trump was charged -- like spreading lies about voter fraud and conspiring to recruit fake pro-Trump electors from states that Trump had lost -- counted as the unofficial conduct of a candidate for office, or as the official conduct of a president whose job includes taking care that election laws are faithfully executed.

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