The last couple of weeks have brought a steady stream of bad news for people hoping that Donald Trump could be defeated in and through the legal process. Courts, it turns out, will not spare the American people from the task of deciding whether the former president gets a return trip to the Oval Office.

Not since the Civil War have American voters had such a responsibility thrust on them. It is often said about presidential elections that each one is “the most important” in our lifetime. So common is that claim that it mostly falls on deaf ears and voters go about their business, with many choosing to stay home and focus their energies elsewhere rather than on the political process.

This year the claim seems all too apt, however. The vote we cast in November won’t just be a choice of two candidates, it will be a choice about whether our form of government, with all its flaws, will endure.

Now that it seems that Trump’s various legal problems will not be resolved before November, it is time for all of us to face up to what history has put on our plate. Just look at Trump’s startling success in derailing various efforts to hold him legally accountable for his political shenanigans and crimes against the republic.

First came the Supreme Court’s decision to review Trump’s frivolous claim that presidents have lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution for things they do while in office. On Feb. 28, the court surprised many legal observers when it announced that it would hear the former president’s appeal from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that former presidents have no such immunity.

As an article on Scotus Blog noted, “In a one-page unsigned order, the justices ordered a federal appeals court to continue to keep on hold its ruling rejecting Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution, and they fast-tracked the........

© The Hill