I have to believe that Jack Smith knew it would be likely that Judge Cannon would be presiding over the case. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a part of the reason this case was filed in the Southern District of Florida.
To me, it suggests that Jack Smith feels his case is rock-solid. If he secures a conviction with Judge Cannon presiding, there will not be much to appeal. If it was tried in DC with a Obama appointed judge, the cries of “corrupt legal system” would never end.
That’s a very optimistic spin on this development, and I hope you’re right. But I’m concerned, not that she can throw the case entirely, but that she can introduce specious delays (such as the Special Master bullshit that she tried to pull earlier) that will take it past the election of 2024 at worst (although the very worst is that Trump wins in 2024) and at best gives him a reprieve of extra months if not years of being able to claim innocence.
Why did Smith file it in that district? I was under the impression that trump was seriously judge shopping to get the previous iteration of this case in Loose Cannon’s court. Is Mar A Flood-o in that district?
ETA: Michael Popok from Meidas Touch Network (lawyer podcasts) said they wouldn’t file in Loose Cannon’s district. I was hoping he knew what he was talking about. Crap.
Well, the Cannon news killed my buzz. Fun while it lasted.
Isn’t the DOJ going to file anything in DC?
Slate speculated that filing in Florida was a hedge by Smith against picking the wrong venue and losing the ability to retry him in the correct venue. The law is unsettled in this area, and in fact the issue was in front of SCOTUS a few weeks ago. See here for the legal details.
My layman understanding is that in federal cases, judges who have previously been involved with a case get selected (usually? always? more often?) for subsequent duties. Cannon’s experience with the special master situation means she got bumped to the front of the line regardless of district.
As I said upthread, tip of the hat to Trump’s legal team for shopping for her in the first place. If my understanding is correct, then that turned out to be quite the savvy move.
Corrections welcome; I have no cites or personal knowledge to back any of this up. It’s just what I read upthread.
From my understanding, when Trump was judge shopping he chose to file in an area court that only had one judge, Cannon. This case was filed in the southern district, which includes about 5 judges. Cannon is one of them.
Plus, as noted above, she may have had a leg up because she has previous experience with the case.
Well, that is frustrating as hell. Cannon’s involvement is at least going to make the case take months longer to wind through than it already would have, probably, which was long enough. Apparently Mar-a-Shitto (I’m sorry, I can’t help it) is in the district DOJ filed in. Shit, shit, shit. Trump is going to get elected again and eventually die of natural causes before the case can get anywhere near resolution, if we still have a court system at all after that anymore. Sorry for the negativity.
Press conference scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EDT today by the special counsel. The indictment has been unsealed.
Indictment just unsealed. I’m searching out a copy.
Reading an article on the indictment’s effect on electability, I ran across this sentence:
I hope an editor can fix this sentence to clarify which set of bloodsucking parasites are looking forward to the speech.
i found this:
whoa page 10. the boxes on the stage of the ballroom!
Mention being made of Attorney 1, Attorney 2 and Attorney 3 possibly being in trouble. And 31 counts of withholding documents.
mr trump is pab.
Why, please?
Trump. It’s another initialism, like “TFG” or “CFSG,” that can be used to refer to Trump.