D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, scheduled the trial for Donald Trump’s 2020 election case for March 4, 2024.

The scheduled date is one day before “Super Tuesday,” the day when the greatest number of states hold primary elections and caucuses.

“My primary concern here, as it is, in every case, is the interest of justice and that I’ve balanced the defendant’s right to adequately prepare,” Chutkan said, according to The Guardian.

Two of Trump’s trial dates are scheduled for March 2024, with the other “for New York State charges related to the alleged falsification of business records,” Just the News noted.

Just the News reports:

Special counsel Jack Smith’s other federal case against Trump involving the former president’s alleged mishandling of classified records is set for May 20, 2024.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges resulting from Smith’s probes.

The federal 2020 election case is separate from the Fulton County, Ga., proceedings Trump’s alleged efforts to conspire with 18 other co-defendants to overturn the 2020 election results. The arraignment for all 19 people charged in that case is set for Sept. 4, 2023.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked for the state trial to start Oct. 23, but Trump’s legal team filed a motion opposing the date.

Donald Trump’s legal team proposed an April 2026 trial date for the federal 2020 election case, but the judge reportedly said it was “far beyond what is necessary.”

Per CNBC:

The Department of Justice’s suggestion to take the case to trial on Jan. 2 “does not” give Trump enough time to prepare, Chutkan said in a Monday morning hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington.

But Trump’s proposal for an April 2026 trial date went “far beyond what is necessary,” the judge said, NBC News reported.

The jury selection process in the D.C. case is currently set to begin one day before Super Tuesday, the biggest day of elections in the presidential primary cycle.

Trump’s attorney John Lauro quickly rose to protest the trial schedule.

“In our judgment, that trial date is inconsistent with President Trump’s right to due process and the right to effective assistance of counsel,” Lauro said in the hearing. The judge noted his objection before moving on.

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Trump was not required to appear at the hearing, which also addressed the federal procedures for handling the “small amount of classified information” that the government said it has identified in the case.

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