This is fresh news and there will be lots of parsing of the Appeals Court ruling denying Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution. So, I might have to eat some of my words but here we go: In what I still say has taken too f**king long the three-judge panel has unanimously denied Trump’s appeal of District judge Tanya Chutkan’s rejection of his claim of immunity from prosecution. I’ve got the TV on as I write this but one pundit noted the language of the appeal is simpler and more direct than judge Chutkan’s “sweeping” initial ruling, and will make it easier for SCOTUS to decline to hear the inevitable appeal headed their way.
There’s an initial write-up by CNN worth a read and I’ll give you some sections from it but first there’s a point or two that should be made. Trump can and likely will request an en banc hearing from the full DC Circuit. It will be a waste of time and for two reasons. First, from what pundits are saying there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell the full DC Circuit will agree to an en banc hearing. Second and more important the ruling gives Trump just seven days to appeal to SCOTUS.
Yes, they didn’t seem to give two sh*ts about the urgency this case demands but now that their dithering caused the DC case to get dropped from judge Chutkan’s calendar “indefinitely” they seem to have realized it was time to get over themselves and rule. So that the case could get back on track. And the most important part is that the way the ruling is crafted judge Chutkan can resume work on the case and right freaking away. Only SCOTUS, by granting Cert (deciding to hear an appeal from Trump) and issuing a stay can put things on hold again. Remember that seven days I mentioned? The countdown is on for Trump. Tick-Tock you bloated orange a$$hole!
As I said it’s still early hours and much more will be written about and spoken about this opinion as legal experts have time to fully digest it. The linked article states that for the purposes of this criminal case, “former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.” But here’s some of the key portions highlighted so far and I’d like to start with one that imparts the full impact of today’s ruling:
“We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter,” the judges wrote. Doing so, they said, “would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three branches.”
Trump of course has been arguing exactly that. That subjecting a President to prosecution even for criminal acts would create a “chilling” effect on future Presidents to perform their duties. The judges were dismissive of that concept. Presidents have ALWAYS been subject to criminal prosecution, something Trump saw reinforced when he was a young man. Richard Nixon got himself caught up in the criminal system and was under federal criminal investigation while he was President.
People, including and especially journalists have almost always glossed over the FACT that the infamous “Watergate Tapes”, those fateful recordings from the Oval Office only got handed over due to a unanimous SCOTUS ruling that not even a President could ignore a lawful subpoena in a criminal investigation! That was it for Nixon right then and there. He knew and by virtue of a court where HE had appointed four of the Justices that the crimes he’d committed were headed towards eventual prosecution. Everyone knew it and that’s why Ford pardoned him. And Nixon accepted the pardon, thereby legally admitting his guilt which I’ve written about. Acceptance of a pardon is legal acceptance of guilt and TWO SCOTUS rulings say so.
In any case, some of the questioning during oral arguments back on the 9th exposed the audacity of Trump’s claims that Presidents couldn’t be held accountable for crimes, actual felonies. In his mind and in his pleading he had maintained if you’re President any and everything you do is a “Presidential duty” and even if it’s a felony you can’t be prosecuted or held to account for it. The Appeals panel drove a stake through the heart of that pile of Trumpian bullshit in brutal fashion:
It would be “a striking paradox,” the judges wrote, if the president, who alone has the constitutional duty to ensure that laws be faithfully executed “were the sole officer capable of defying those laws with impunity.”
There’s a word in there that is giving the Chief Justice heartburn. “Officer.” Which happens to be one of the issues SCOTUS will be dealing with when it hears Trump’s appeal of Colorado kicking him off the ballot. I’ve said multiple times John Roberts wants no part of this case. I’m sure even if they think “maybe” he’ll have little difficulty corralling Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barret. It’s safe to say the three Democratic appointees will make it seven firmly opposed to granting cert. The only possible votes for Trump would be Thomas and Alito and they’ve got enough problems already so even they might grudgingly go along but it won’t really matter. It takes four Justices to vote to grant Cert and if there aren’t at least four who want to take up a case that’s it. A simple one sentence order is posted for the record saying the request for Cert is denied – signed by the clerk.
So where do things stand? Judge Chutkan can get back to work moving the case along. She might wait until early next week to see if SCOTUS issues a stay, and I suspect she will but by the middle of the month Trump’s DC trial will be back in the works. Early talk is it could start this summer. Wouldn’t that be something? Trump literally on trial during the RNC? Having to fly back and forth between DC and Milwaukee?
Well, for now let’s just be glad the DC panel finally ruled. Let’s hope it didn’t come too late for Trump to face justice for his insurrectionist crimes.
Life is always a collection of, “what-ifs”, but NOW, the Shitgibbon, can virtually, “smell the hot grease working on the wheels of justice as our hero, Smith, retires to his den to play games with the words in his mind, like, how do we ALL get a chance to flatten the worthless Roach that once played golf when indeed, he should have been a REAL president, will he have to answer to the States first or will they all want him in Federal Lockup for a simple number of years, maybe 20, a nice round number that speaks volumes to the possibility of a, “LIFE”, sentence, and with no possibility of parole …
Trump has run out of donors that could pay all his fines and charges, AND as he continues to plead for mercy, the GOP’s failing will isolate him from his co-criminal friends, all of those turds in OUR house need to go for their own punishments’, Gym Jordan has been a SUPER TURD, he will need to crawl back under that old rock where he was spawned …
” … the Shitgibbon, can virtually, “smell the hot grease working on the wheels of justice …” Love it, Daniel. Tick. Tick. Tick. Shitgibbon – a prime example of a failed, failing, continuing to fail foolish and obnoxious apex cockwomble. Maybe Shitgibbon von Cockwomble is more apt.
They won’t touch it if they’re smart! If they make this fascist king, then Biden should have them arrested, imprisoned as traitors, along with the insurrectionists in the senate and house, appoint his own judges, give women back their rights, and a dozen other things RIGHT AWAY. Why wait for the next dictator…phuck next November…I’d be happier with Dark Brandon! After all everything would be LEGAL!
My favorite line,
[During] President Trump’s 2021 impeachment proceedings for incitement of insurrection, his counsel argued that instead of post-Presidency impeachment, the appropriate vehicle for “investigation, prosecution, and punishment” is “the article III courts,” as “[w]e have a judicial process” and “an investigative process . . . to which no former officeholder is immune.”
Gotcha!
Trump’s lawyers had argued during his last impeachment that his actions related to the 2020 election were not impeachable and that the appropriate venue for judging them would be a courtroom.
So here we are, in the courtroom, AT THEIR DIRECT SUGGESTION.
Time to proceed with proceedings.
Given the rock-solidness of this decision it would be very surprising to see the Supreme Court take it up. trump will have a week or so to file an appeal, but if he does it will only delay the inevitable by a week or two. He will likely be facing Jack Smith in court sometime in late spring or summer, assuming he makes it that far. Stock up on popcorn. Engoron’s is coming next. It will be wild.