January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[emailking]

Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Donald Trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while in office – the first time that the high court will weigh in on the historic prosecution of the former president.

The extraordinary request is an attempt by Smith to keep the election subversion trial – currently scheduled for early March – on track. Smith is asking the Supreme Court to take the rare step of skipping a federal appeals court and quickly decide a fundamental issue of the case against Trump.

Smith’s team has asked the court to review district Judge’s Tanya Chutkan ruling that as a former president, Trump is not immune from the election subversion prosecution case brought in Washington DC. Lawyers for the former president have argued that Trump’s alleged actions over the 2020 election results were part of his official duties at the time and therefore he is protected by presidential immunity.

Prosecutors also asked the court to decide whether Trump is protected by double jeopardy.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/politics/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith/index.html

[2016]

This seems like a very good sign that the Appeals Court will deal very quickly with Trump’s immunity appeal.

I think the only real risk there if is the random 3 judge panel has at least 2 of the of the 4 judges that have shown a proclivity to slowing things down for Trump. (Over all Trump litigation they've gotten over the past 6 years.) There's 14 judges total so there's about a 18% chance this could happen.

BIG, MASSIVE NEWS
Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the SCOTUS if former President Trump has "Absolute Immunity".
https://twitter.com/dnlbrns/status/1734267528895922258

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Time to see if Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and ACB earned their seats or if they need to be replaced next term.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Time to see if Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and ACB earned their seats or if they need to be replaced next term.

[brucejoel99]

Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Donald Trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while in office – the first time that the high court will weigh in on the historic prosecution of the former president.

The extraordinary request is an attempt by Smith to keep the election subversion trial – currently scheduled for early March – on track. Smith is asking the Supreme Court to take the rare step of skipping a federal appeals court and quickly decide a fundamental issue of the case against Trump.

Smith’s team has asked the court to review district Judge’s Tanya Chutkan ruling that as a former president, Trump is not immune from the election subversion prosecution case brought in Washington DC. Lawyers for the former president have argued that Trump’s alleged actions over the 2020 election results were part of his official duties at the time and therefore he is protected by presidential immunity.

Prosecutors also asked the court to decide whether Trump is protected by double jeopardy.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/politics/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith/index.html

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1734269050887258254https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1734274600173777362https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734272522127057281https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734272807062905306

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734273987780436349https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734274135998738496https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734274446649893021https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734274833045938606https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734279177468272816

[emailking]

Not a lawyer but I agree with him that it is a breathtaking move by Smith.

[2016]

Not a lawyer but I agree with him that it is a breathtaking move by Smith.

SCOTUS threw out all of Trumps Election Challengers in 2020 from November - December once Biden was declared the Winner so I doubt SCOTUS would side with Trump on Absolute Presidential Immunity. We'll see though!

Trump should pay for what he did on J6.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Like U.S. v Nixon, which Smith cites, this involves SCOTUS taking a case before judgement. In that case, the Court unanimously ruled against absolute executive privilege. Will the Roberts Court do the same, or will it demonstrate to everyone that it is an illegitimate institution?

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1734310876251897887

[emailking]

I believe jury selection would go on hold while this plays out but motions already in progress they can keep litigating.

[President Johnson]

When is the Supreme Court expected to rule on this?

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734288037616722160

[brucejoel99]

I believe jury selection would go on hold while this plays out but motions already in progress they can keep litigating.

An interlocutory appeal temporarily divests the district court only of control over those aspects of the case that are involved in the appeal, but it's also arguable at the moment whether or not (& Trump's certainly arguing that) every district-level proceeding in the case is inherently an automatically-stayed aspect of an overall constitutional immunity appeal, so 🫠🤷‍♂️

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

When is the Supreme Court expected to rule on this?

No idea at all right now. United States v. Nixon took a little over a month. (Roughly the same time as it took to confirm ACB.) Even if the Court moves slowly, Smith's request seems extremely likely to have some action on it by the end of the current term in June 2024.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

So what happens if the Supreme Court denies cert?  Could it still be appealed at the Circuit Court level?

Edit: I'm generally a little unclear about what a denial of cert would mean in this case. Does it mean that the Court is denying Trump's appeal (and this affirming the District Court ruling for the prosecution)? Or simply that they are denying the prosecution's petition to consider the issue now and will allow the appeal to proceed through the Circuit Court as usual?

[emailking]

So what happens if the Supreme Court denies cert?  Could it still be appealed at the Circuit Court level?

I believe so, Smith also filed motions for expedited action at the Circuit level today, presumably if SCOTUS doesn't want to deal with this.

[emailking]

SCOTUS says Trump has to file a response by 4 PM next Wednesday.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1734340158005428461

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1734343076691521870

[brucejoel99]

Trump's legal team has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever & quit en masse from sheer exhaustion:

https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1734340401128214883https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1734345586625892807https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1734340562659193277https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734345977983869100https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734346515106377998https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1734348809898221830

[emailking]

On air L. Cheney says Smith was right to ask SCOTUS to immediately decide immunity & DJ motions.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1734343076691521870

I’m not sure what the Presidents in parens are in reference to.  Pan and Childs were both appointed to the DC Circuit last year by Biden.  Henderson is a Republican appointed in 1990 by GHW Bush, and is the longest serving active justice on the Court by over 20 years. She’s also been very favorable toward Trump in past rulings, though she’ll obviously be in the minority here.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1734343076691521870

I’m not sure what the Presidents in parens are in reference to.  Pan and Childs were both appointed to the DC Circuit last year by Biden.  Henderson is a Republican appointed in 1990 by GHW Bush, and is the longest serving active justice on the Court by over 20 years. She’s also been very favorable toward Trump in past rulings, though she’ll obviously be in the minority here.

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1734370355316470138

[Landslide Lyndon]

I can't believe that a single justice will vote to make the president essentially an absolute monarch. Even a partisan hack like Alito must be able to understand that this is a decision that will not affect only Trump but will reshape the entire system of governance for years to come.