Left: FILE — The U.S. Supreme Court is seen before sunrise on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)/ Center: (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)/ Right: Right Donald Trump. File AP Photo by: zz/John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 7/20/22.
Donald Trump’s trial date of March 4 to face charges that he criminally conspired to subvert the 2020 election has been vacated in Washington, D.C. But Trump’s legal team will return to the nation’s capital in a matter of days when on Thursday, Feb. 8, his lawyers and prosecutors will argue at the U.S. Supreme Court and ask them to decide whether Section III of the Fourteenth Amendment bars Trump from holding office given a lower court’s finding that he engaged in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
From the docket:
MINUTE ORDER as to DONALD J. TRUMP: The February 9, 2024 administration of a written questionnaire to prospective jurors, as set forth in the court’s 130 Order, is hereby VACATED. In addition, the March 4, 2024 trial set by the court’s 39 Pretrial Order, as amended, is hereby VACATED. The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 2/2/2024. (zjd)
Law&Crime takes a look at those developments and others around Trump’s other cases in Georgia, Florida and New York.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CRIMINAL
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against the rights of voters through oppression, threats and intimidation
The Groundhog’s Day decision from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had been anticipated and even appeared imminent a day ago when the trial date dropped off the courthouse calendar though a formal order had not yet then been entered. Prospective jurors were expected to start filing into the federal courthouse to complete a questionnaire as soon as next week but Chutkan’s order clarifies that will not happen until a new schedule is set “when the mandate is returned.”
The postponement comes as a ruling is anticipated from the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.on the question of Trump’s immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president. Oral arguments were an uphill fight for Trump’s lawyers who claimed Trump could not be prosecuted because it would otherwise encroach on the executive powers and upset the separation of powers, generally. He also argues he cannot be prosecuted because he was already impeached by the House, though not convicted by the Senate, for inciting an insurrection.
But even if a decision from the appellate court were to come promptly, Trump will likely appeal, either to the en banc panel or to the Supreme Court. The appeals court is not beholden to a deadline and could still take weeks to make a decision.
OF NOTE: With the D.C. trial set aside, that means Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan may be the first to go forward in March as prosecutors led by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg have hoped. More below.
CONSTITUTIONAL
In Trump v. Anderson, the court will resolve whether Donald Trump is eligible to run for office or if he is disqualified under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, specifically, Section III of that amendment which bars those who “engage” in insurrection from holding office.
Simply put, Trump’s attorneys contend the decision by the Colorado State Supreme Court was unconstitutional and disenfranchised voters nationally. When the argument goes to the justices on Thursday, it will be the first time in history they will hear a question involving the Civil War-era provision.
The parties will argue whether Section III, also known as the “insurrection clause” applies to presidents, specifically, whether Trump is considered an officer of the United States under the statute’s definition and more.
Notably, in a hefty amicus brief, dozens of historians have called on the high court to consider that even Jefferson Davis, leader of the Confederacy, knew the insurrection clause disqualified him and that a president was considered an “officer” of the United States.
OF NOTE: An extensive analysis published recently found that one of Trump’s self-proclaimed “American heroes,” the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote that he did consider the president an “officer of the United States.”
NEW YORK
CRIMINAL
It appears Trump’s trial in Manhattan where he faces allegations he falsified business records involving hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, will be the first to get off the ground. It is slated for March 25.
A hearing is coming up on Feb. 15, however, where the presiding judge will weigh pretrial motions including questions over whether Bragg properly brought charges against Trump and if he can prove intent. The hearing will also ask whether felony charges will stand. Trump could appeal a decision here, too.
OF NOTE: Given the shakiness of the evidentiary hearings, it widely considered, as The Washington Post noted Friday, the weakest of the cases brought against Trump.
CIVIL
Trump was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million last week for defaming her after Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, won the writer’s first rape and defamation case against him.
After the defeat in court, this past week, it seemed Trump’s attorney Alina Habba might be out of a job. In a message on his social media site, he declared he was “in the process, along with my team, of interviewing various law firms to represent me in an appeal,” Trump said, adding that he found the order from Judge Lewis Kaplan “ridiculous.”
OF NOTE: Roberta Kaplan slapped away a claim of impropriety by Habba about her relationship with the judge a day before Trump announced he was looking for new blood. It also came out last week that Trump was incensed after Habba offered her a sandwich for lunch.
GEORGIA
CRIMINAL
Trump has pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen charges in the racketeering case alleging he and several co-defendants tried to steal the 2020 election through fraud and forgery
A trial date isn’t on the books in Georgia yet and a hearing is coming on Feb. 15 before Fulton County Superior Court Scott McAfee. where Trump’s lawyers will argue that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an improper relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
OF NOTE: Willis and Wade were subpoenaed by lawyers for Mike Roman, a Trump 2020 campaign staffer, to testify this past week; he claims their affair was a misuse of public funds.
FLORIDA
CRIMINAL
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 41 counts of mishandling documents as well as obstructing justice and making false statements and representations and charges related to destroying or attempting to alter or destroy an object
Trump’s impending trial in Florida where he faces allegations that he unlawfully retained classified documents is moving slow before presiding Judge Aileen Cannon. A hearing is on the docket for March 1 where the tentatively held May 20 trial date will be discussed.
A report emerged Friday citing anonymous sources alleging that special counsel Jack Smith has been interviewing witnesses about a “hidden room“ as well as a locked closet at Mar-a-Lago that may not have been examined by investigators who first searched the property over a year ago. Prosecutors attended a sealed hearing on Jan. 31 in Florida to evaluate classified filings by Smith being sought out by Trump and his attorneys
OF NOTE: Late Friday, prosecutors offered some clues in a 67-page filing about how they began their investigation in Florida, emphasizing that they moved incrementally and cautiously.
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