Democrats are starting to come to grips with a clear reality:

• They'll have to defeat former President Trump without much help from the courts, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

The Supreme Court today rejected Colorado's effort to keep Trump off the ballot in its GOP primary — which will also halt similar efforts in other states.

• Just last week, the high court gave Trump the delay he wanted in the federal trial over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
• The case against him in Georgia is in limbo as a judge decides whether to remove the lead prosecutor. The classified documents case in Florida is unlikely to go to trial any earlier than this summer.

⚡️ The big picture: All formal efforts to hold Trump accountable for Jan. 6 — through impeachment, criminal prosecution or the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause — have run aground or been frozen.

• It'll still be a major focus of Democrats' 2024 campaigns. But they'll have to win the argument there, rather than in court.

Go deeper.

The fierce blizzard that battered California's Sierra Nevada mountains for four days dropped more than 100 inches of snow in some locations, Axios extreme-weather expert Andrew Freedman reports.

• Why it matters: The extreme snow totals cut off some mountain towns and shut down I-80 for days, but the snow will greatly improve summer water resources.

Palisades Tahoe, the largest resort on the north end of Tahoe and the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, closed its chairlifts because of snow, wind and low visibility, per AP.

🌨️ What's next: More snow is expected in the Sierra through Wednesday. But it'll be far less intense than the blizzard, with 1 to 2 feet falling from a weaker storm system.

1. 🛬 JetBlue is officially giving up its bid to buy Spirit Airlines, a month after a judge blocked the deal. Go deeper.
2. 🎧 European regulators fined Apple $2 billion in a dispute with Spotify, which alleged that Apple unfairly suppressed competition among music-streaming apps. Go deeper.
3. ⚖️ Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to committing perjury in Trump's civil fraud case. Details.

Barry Blitt's New Yorker cover for Oscars week, "Slappenheimer," transposes this year's biggest movie drama — the competition between "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie" — onto Will Smith's slap of Chris Rock.

• 🎬 Go deeper: Still need to catch up before the Oscars on Sunday? Where to stream Oscars contenders.