Dem
51
GOP
49
Donald Trump got a sliver of good news on the legal front on Wednesday, but since then everything appears to be breaking against him. That's generally how it runs for him these days.
The sliver of good news came when Judge Tanya Chutkan paused the criminal trial scheduled for March 4, acknowledging that while questions of presidential immunity were being appealed to courts higher than hers, she could not move forward. This appeared to give Trump some small hope that the trial would be postponed.
Yesterday, however, the D.C. Court of Appeals granted the request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to address the question. Trump is required to submit a legal brief by Dec. 23; Smith is required to respond by Dec. 30; Trump is required to respond by Jan. 2. And so, it is likely there will be a decision by the first or second week in January. Since much of the time in between now and then is holiday season, relatively little time will be lost.
At the same time, of course, Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the same question. SCOTUS is acting with all due haste, as well. The Supremes would probably prefer that the process play out normally, and that the Court of Appeals do the work of writing up a decision, so that SCOTUS can just affirm it (or, failing that, set it aside, or order reconsideration of some points). The timeline appears to be working out in a manner that should make that very possible. Of course, SCOTUS could decide to jump the line, in which case there will be a resolution even more quickly.
Add it up, and in the opinion of former prosecutors Norman L. Eisen, Joshua Kolb, and E. Danya Perry (and numerous other commentators), it is very likely that Trump will lose his appeals, and that he'll do so quickly enough to keep the Mar. 4 case on schedule. So, it's looking like it will be a blue Christmas at Mar-a-Lago. (Z)