No immunity for Trump

But how to stop him from running out the the clock?

Friends,

Today, a 3-judge panel of the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia circuit rejected Trump’s claim that he is immune to charges of plotting to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

After sitting on the case for a month, the panel ruled that Trump must go to trial on a criminal indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn his loss to President Biden.

The unanimous ruling was a significant although not unexpected defeat for Trump. But in his attempt to run out the clock, he is has already indicated that he will make a request to the full appeals court to consider his case, and then appeal it to the Supreme Court.

While his legal arguments keep failing in court, even rulings against him aid his goal of delaying any federal trial in D.C. until after the presidential election.

Today’s ruling answers a question that has never before been addressed by an appeals court — whether a former presidents can avoid accountability by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office. The panel held that:

“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as president no longer protects him against this prosecution… . The interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation.”

Trump would ordinarily have 30 days to ask for review by the full appeals court, and 90 days after that to go to the high court.

But the panel said Trump has until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to get involved in the case and continue a stay of all of the underlying proceedings. This would deprive Trump of extra days spent seeking review from the full appeals court, but would likely keep the underlying case on hold while the Supreme Court considered it.

If Trump asks the full appeals court to hear the issue first, the case would be sent back on Monday to the trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, who could quickly lift the pause. All of the hearings and filing deadlines that are now on hold would start up again.

My guess is that Trump will now seek Supreme Court review, in hopes that the highest court will hear the case while delaying the trial. That delay could extend weeks or months.

Each day that passes without a ruling on his guilt bolsters Trump’s strategy of seeking to run out the clock and postpone the trial until after the election.

A failure to try Trump before the election would be a terrible disservice to American democracy. Voters are entitled to know before casting their ballots whether they are choosing a criminal felon.

A Morning Consult poll shows 23 percent of Republican voters from the swing states that will likely decide this election — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Nevada — would be unwilling to support Trump for president if he is convicted in one of the criminal trials he is currently facing.

To prevent Trump from further running out the clock, both the appeals court as a whole and the Supreme Court should immediately set tighter deadlines than is typical for filing and hearing arguments, and allow pretrial preparation to go forward while they weigh any appeal.

There is no excuse for allowing Trump to run out this clock. Justice delayed is justice denied to all of America.