This could have been a year of a federal court reckoning for Trump. Judges had other ideas

A year that began with the prospect of a federal court reckoning for Trump will end without any chance of a trial.

A separate criminal case accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election seemed an opportunity for a trial this year .

But the Supreme Court erased that possibility with an opinion that granted former presidents expansive immunity from prosecution.

If Trump loses to Democrat Kamala Harris , he is at risk of trial and possible conviction in the classified documents case.

Trump has maintained he did nothing wrong by retaining records from his presidency.

The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents during a search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 .

The investigation was far along by the time Trump 's attorney was appointed by Garland in November 2022 .

A late surprise surfaced when prosecutors began presenting evidence to a grand jury in Florida .

The investigation into the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — which has become the largest in Justice Department history — had consumed agents and prosecutors by the time Garland was sworn in as attorney general two months later .

It would be nearly a year from the time the case was frozen before it was back in Chutkan ’s courtroom.