The Underwater Torpedo Aimed Directly At The Hull Of Trump’s “Absolute Immunity” Ship

I was so glad to see this hit the news in the last hour, because it has been literally bugging the sh*t out of me for the last few months. Let me lead with my basic understanding of the legal process so you can see where I’m coming from.

I’m not a lawyer, don’t play one on TV, and try like hell not to sound like one in my columns. But the simple fact of the matter is that the yellow brick road from an arrest really isn’t all that complicated. Just so we’re all starting on the same page, here’s the basic outline.

Yo’ ass gets busted. Depending on the crime or circumstances, you’re either arrested and charged criminally, or indicted. You endure an arraignment, in which you plead not guilty, and ask for bail. The judge or magistrate records your plea, grants or denies bail, and sets the date for the preliminary hearing.

The preliminary hearing is where the pre-trial action is. The judge sets the start and conditions for discovery, meaning the prosecution turning over their evidence to the defense, a trial date, and normally three or so weeks before the start of the trial, a pre-trial motion hearing. 

And that pre-trial motion hearing is where the trial is really decided. Both sides file motions before the court trying to include or preclude various evidence or testimony from appearing before the jury. The judge listens to the motions, gets together with his law clerk to research, and at least seven days before the start of voir dire, or jury selection, delivers his rulings.

And then they go on to jury selection and trial. Both sides present their evidence, make their arguments, and the jury decides. And this is the part that has been bugging the sh*t out of me. If the defendant is convicted, then the defense goes before the circuit court of appeals, and tries to argue to a three judge panel where the original trial judge f*cked up in his or her decisions, and why the conviction shouldn’t be upheld.

This is the part that has been driving me crazy! Once a judge is assigned to a trial, the judge has complete jurisdiction over the trial. And if the defense loses, then they go before the court of appeals to appeal the conviction. But Trump’s legal carp have turned the judicial process into Alice through the looking glass. They’re trying to use the appeals process, something normally used to appeal a conviction, to try to neuter the sitting judge’s authority before the trial even begins!

This has been driving me crazy, but finally I find that I’m not the only one. On The Last Word this evening, Lawrence O’Donnell broke the news that a group of constitutional scholars filed an Amicus Brief, or a friend of the court letter that states that Traitor Tot’s absolute immunity defense has no place in front of either the appellate court, nor the Supreme Court, since El Pendejo Presidente hasn’t been convicted!

Thank you, Lords of Sanity! Appeals take place after a conviction, not before the pre-trial hearing. These motions belong before the sitting trial judge, it’s his or her trial. If the defense doesn’t like the rulings, the are free to appeal the decisions after the conviction. Not before.

And the appellate court seems to be of the same mind. It has already advised both sides that they will need to be ready to argue before the court on the notion that Trump’s appeal is premature, since he hasn’t yet been convicted of a crime. And in his 89 page response to the Trump filing today, Jack Smith’s team laid his premise to waste like a napalm drop on a Vietnamese jungle.

People, I cannot emphasize on you strongly enough how critical this appellate court ruling is. The oral arguments are next Tuesday, and some legal analysts have opined that the appellate court may already be writing their majority opinion ruling against Trump, before the oral arguments are even  presented, so that they may rule quickly.

If they rule with Judge Chutkan against Trump on the merits of Trump’s absolute immunity claim, then it’s headed directly for the Supreme Court. But if the appellate court rules that the Trump appeal is premature, due to Trump not being convicted, then they hand SCOTUS a gift wrapped ruling to allow them to decline hearing an appeal pending conviction.

Of the appellate court rules that Trump’s appeal is premature, then his criminal trial is still on track for jury selection on March 4th. And if the Supreme Court, as expected, kick this sh*t can down the road pending conviction, Trump’s rattletrap plane is sh*t out of runway. Trump will go to trial on March 4th. Don’t touch that dial.

Thank you for the privilege of your time.