Isn’t that Beckdawrek’s trademark?
Fair use.
I thought you meant this,
The DC appeals court has finally ruled on the gag order imposed by Judge Chutkin. It was mostly upheld, with a few tweaks.
Now trump has appealed her ruling that he’s not presidentially immune to any prosecution and also that the impeachment vote would make another trial constitute double jeopardy. While he was at it he asked for a stay and a hold on ANY trial matters until the matter of the appeal has been resolved, including all motion hearings, CIPA hearings, jury selection… basically shut the entire thing down until he gets the answer he wants.
Could there ever be a point where he oversteps with the appeals? I know that appeals are a normal part of the judicial process, but there has to be a limit, otherwise everybody would just appeal everything to death.
This is the end of the line on this issue. Ideally, the SCOTUS will refuse to take it up and make that decision known quickly. Worst case scenario, they’ll agree to take it up and then sit on the ruling long enough to cause the trial to be delayed past November.
This is the decision to watch. Judge Chutkan has already set a briefing schedule for in limine motions and it appears that jurors have already been summoned to complete questionnaires.
Thank goodness. Sometimes it feels like it will never end.
Our judicial system is designed to move with slow deliberation, but when you couple that with a defendant who is raising issues that will set new legal precedent and who knows how to manipulate the system for delay, it results in a pace that is almost unendurable.
And we will soon know how in the tank this SCOTUS is for Trump.
On the other hand, courts can move with blinding (for them) speed when it seems called for. I suspect Trump’s track record with the legal system is going to encourage appellate courts to give him short shrift on frivolous delaying tactics.
That’s true. And even this SCOTUS has moved surprisingly fast and not in his favor a time or two. This should be an easy case for them to decline, but I don’t know if it will be.
Based on no evidence beyond my gut, I suspect SCOTUS finds him annoying, perhaps even embarrassing, and of no further utility now that the conservatives have their solid majority with lifetime appointments.
Re last post, I hope you, EddyTeddyFreddy, are correct.
You’d think Justice Barrett could not forgive Trump for inviting her entire family to the no-mask nomination reception that became a super-spreader event.
But maybe she does forgive him, or thinks it wasn’t his fault.
Jack Smith directly petitions SCOTUS for an expedited ruling on Trump’s “presidential immunity” claims:
Oof. That’s confidence.
I dunno, seems the court’s most likely way of going to bat for Trump is by delaying until after the election, not by actually ruling in his favor.
This gives them the opportunity to settle shit once and for all if that’s their inclination. If they’re in Trump’s corner, this changes nothing. They’ll just say “no no, let’s do this by the book” and Smith is back where he started.
May as well find out now how deep they are in Trump’s pocket. This was a smart move either way. If they’re onboard for Trump, our democracy is already over.
I keep waiting for him to go into another ‘I’m not going to be a dictator’ rambles and bring up plans to change the laws so he can fire, or otherwise remove, the current SC justices.
See how long it takes for them, and all judges, to realize that maybe they shouldn’t be siding with him all that often if they’re just another group that he brought into his orbit so he could step on them as soon as he needs a boost.
Even though he can’t, it doesn’t mean he won’t try and maybe they should stop pressing their luck.
Well, the rulings are no-brainers.
Trump has no leg to stand on re immunity, since he was not acting in any official capacity on the day he instigated the insurrection. And the notion of “double jeopardy” attaching as a result of a non-criminal entirely political process of impeachment is, how shall I say, fucking laughable.
In a rational world, this is a quick turnaround, either declining to take the matter up because there are no real issues here and relying on the reasoning of Judge Chutkan’s ruling, or denying Trump’s motions outright. Both options can be done fast.
This Supreme Court has acted swiftly in the past to some of Trump’s idiotic claims. But they have also sat on rulings, granting him significant benefit even though their ultimate rulings were not in doubt. The line of demarcation between those outcomes seems to be whether he was a sitting president. Since he left office, the SCOTUS has seemed far less willing to provide him with protections. I hope this continues to be true.
I agree that a dictator really has no need of a Supreme Court.
Given the fact that they’ve ruled against Trump on immunity matters before, I think the confidence is warranted.
SCOTUS grants expediting request, Trump has until 12-20 to file response: