Left: Activists display their concerns as the Supreme Court announces decisions, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)/ Right: Donald Trump boards Air Force One in Morristown, N.J., July 2018. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
After another week of rulings from the Supreme Court, the nation continues to await word from the justices on whether Donald Trump, a convicted felon 34 times over — and one of nation’s candidates for the highest office in the land — is immune from facing criminal prosecution for his alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to and on Jan. 6, 2021.
Historically, the justices complete all of their opinion-making by late June, or even early July, but as the high court’s own website notes, “the work of the Justices is unceasing.”
And indeed, while the accepted general wisdom and historic practice overwhelmingly indicates that the court finishes its businesses at the top of the summer, there’s no promise of such an outcome. In fact, the justices do not have to decide Trump’s case until the very last week of September, since the new term does not begin until the first Monday of October.
If the court rules that Trump is immune, regardless of how tortured or split the decision, the Jan. 6 criminal case is expected to crumble, or at least find itself in significant jeopardy. If they rule he is not immune, the long-awaited criminal trial in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan could resume. But even that may be unlikely given that the presidential election would be mere weeks away at that point.
With another round of opinions issued this week, University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck noted on Friday that there are roughly just a dozen cases left for the high court to decide.
#SCOTUS isn’t set to hand down decisions again until next Wednesday.
Depending upon consolidated opinions re: Chevron and NetChoice, there are 12–14 left, all but *one* of which are major cases (in yellow).
And the ozone pollution emergency applications are also still pending. pic.twitter.com/rmiNAOfopE
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) June 21, 2024
In the meantime, Law&Crime takes a look at key developments in Trump’s cases in New York, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C.
NEW YORK
CRIMINAL
The New York Court of Appeals has tossed Trump’s bid to lift his gag order in the hush-money and election interference case, saying only that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”
CIVIL
Trump’s lawyers are pushing yet again to have the judge who oversaw Trump’s civil business fraud trial thrown off of the case, arguing this week that a real estate lawyer’s claims of a hallway chat weeks before Justice Arthur Engoron handed down a decision was improper.
Judge Arthur Engoron presides over former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. (Spencer Platt/Pool Photo via AP), (right) attorney Andrew Leitman Bailey in an NBC New York interview (WNBC/screengrab, as it appeared in court documents)
FLORIDA
CRIMINAL
The news that caused a stir this week was an undercover interview of an unwitting Roger Stone. Stone was caught on tape discussing trial delays and the judge overseeing Trump’s case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. He also boasted of having a favorable judge and lawyer on “speed dial” should the Trump campaign seek to challenge the results of this year’s election again.
After much waiting — and claims of foot-dragging made against them by special counsel Jack Smith — attorneys for the former president have finally filed a much-anticipated brief this week disclosing their intent on how they plan to use classified documents to defend Trump at trial.
Meanwhile Smith has told the court he will need to file a lengthy explanation as to why Trump’s claims that “exculpatory” evidence was ruined “forever” by “bad faith” investigators are inaccurate.
Cannon was not remotely interested in hearing arguments from 24 Republican attorneys general who asked if they could submit an amicus curiae brief opposing Smith’s gag order request in the espionage case.
In response, the organization run by Trump’s onetime White House adviser Stephen Miller, is trying its hand, asking Cannon to let his legal group, America First Legal Foundation, weigh in on what Miller says are gross violations of the First Amendment by Smith.
A hearing was held at the federal courthouse in Ft. Pierce on Friday where Cannon weighed motions to dismiss the case, including the defense team’s claims that Smith was wrongfully appointed and must be subject to Senate confirmation. Trump’s team argues that the authority of a U.S. attorney is so great, it is similar to appointing a “shadow government,” NBC News reported Friday.
There won’t be an answer on the motion to dismiss today. Additional hearings for motions to dismiss will be held again on Monday and then on Tuesday.
Roger Stone (left) in a video recorded by Lauren Windsor, (right) Judge Aileen Cannon (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida)
GEORGIA
CRIMINAL
The racketeering and election subversion case remains on hold.
In the interim, Nathan Wade, the former Georgia special prosecutor who was forced to resign from the case after his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis came to light, made waves this week on social media after he appeared on the Daily Show for a tongue-in-cheek interview about his time working with Willis.
OF NOTE: Trump’s co-defendant in the fake electors case Rudy Giuliani heard some ominous words this week in bankruptcy court after he tried to convince a judge not to side with his creditors by appointing a watchdog to oversee his finances. Attorneys representing the two former election workers he defamed said this week a “stunning admission” Giuliani made, however, indicates he very much does need a trustee to seize control of his finances.
Left: Fani Willis appears during a Fulton County court hearing on Feb. 15, 2024. (Law&Crime Network). Right: Nathan Wade appears during a Fulton County court hearing on Feb. 15, 2024. (Law&Crime Network)
WASHINGTON, D.C.
SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court still has not issued a ruling on Trump’s question of immunity from criminal prosecution related to Jan. 6. And that case itself remains on hold.
OF NOTE: Federal prosecutors told a judge that Trump ally Steve Bannon — convicted over a year ago on two counts of contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with the Jan. 6 committee — simply has no viable reason not to report to prison on July 1 or stay out on appeal any longer. On Friday, Bannon petitioned the Supreme Court after an appeals court rejected him.
Former senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump Steve Bannon arrives at U.S. District Court for an appearance on March 16, 2022 in Washington, DC. Bannon has been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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