A year that began with the prospect of a federal court reckoning for Donald Trump will conclude without any chance at trial, leaving voters without an up-or-down jury verdict in the two most consequential cases against the Republican presidential nominee. Yet both cases — one charging him with illegally hoarding classified documents, the other with trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost — still loom over the election. Their potential resurgence makes clear that at stake in November’s vote is not only the presidency but potentially Trump’s liberty as he faces the prospect of drawn-out court fights.
