Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter Readers. After being found guilty of all 34 crimes in New York last week, Donald Trump got better news in his other three criminal cases this week, as the Supreme Court’s final day of opinion passed without a ruling on his federal election-holding immunity claim. interference case.
Trump’s Georgia case was officially dropped on Wednesday, further cementing the reality that he will not be tried in the Peach State (or anywhere other than New York) before the presidential election. The state appeals court’s stay order followed the court’s October hearing in the defense’s attempt to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A pre-election trial against the presumptive Republican nominee was already unlikely in the state election interference case. The bigger question is whether Willis and her office can stay, but this year we probably won’t know the answer.
The Secret Documents Case is on similar ground, in that it likely won’t go to trial this year and the bigger question is the fate of the case itself. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made her latest strange moves in Trump’s favor, calling unnecessary hearings later this month on unnecessary issues involving unnecessary outside parties while delaying decisions that would allow a trial in Florida.
Meanwhile, the other federal case Things didn’t go anywhere this week, as Supreme Court opinion day passed on Thursday without a ruling on Trump’s immunity appeal in Washington. The justices issued three opinions Thursday: on taxes, tribal-run health care programs and a bankruptcy ruling notable for renouncing Justice Samuel Alito. He didn’t explain why, but he clearly knows how to step aside when he sees fit, shedding a brighter light on his inability to do so in the cases related to January 6.
Speaking of Alito, his already weak justification for refusing to withdraw was further unraveled. The neighbor at the center of the dispute that Alito claimed was leading his wife – not him! – to fly an inverted flag after January 6, 2021, questioned the judge’s explanation. Even if his account were accurate, it would not remove the appearance of impropriety arising from his investigation into these matters. But open questions remain about his story, prompting calls at the very least for public hearings to clarify the matter.
Judge Clarence Thomas should also be excluded from these cases. But unlike Alito, he hasn’t even tried to explain why he’s staying. Thomas withdrew from a 2020 election-related petition from John Eastman early in the term — a decision he also did not explain at the time, so his rationale is not set in stone compared to his choice to stay on these issues. .
Thomas did acknowledge it that he should have revealed travel he received from billionaire Harlan Crow. The amendment came in the judges’ annual financial disclosures, which were released the same week that watchdog Fix the Court reported on decades of donations to the judges — most of which, totaling millions of dollars, went to Thomas.
The judges will then give their opinion Thursday, as we enter the second week of June and there is still a pile of crucial decisions left. The court typically completes its rulings by the end of June, but that is more of a habit than a hard rule. Could we see the immunity verdict next week? It turns out that next Friday is Flag Day. How will Alito – sorry, his wife – celebrate?
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
