Dem
51
GOP
49
Judge Aileen Cannon has taken a look at her docket, and decided that August 14 would make a swell starting date for the trial in Donald Trump's documents case. Yesterday, she issued an order to that effect.
There is zero chance that the trial will actually commence on that date. There are going to be pre-trial arguments about classified evidence, about jury selection, and about whatever Hail Mary legal issues Team Trump tries to sell to the court. In short, if you decide to book tickets for a trip to Fort Pierce, FL, on Aug. 14 so you too can stand outside with a pig's head on a stick, do make sure you buy travel insurance.
Despite the fact that the trial won't begin in August, Cannon continues to move quickly, as is consistent with the "rocket docket" reputation of the Southern District of Florida. Yesterday's order, while not terribly long, lays out quite a few rules for pre-trial activities, and in general communicates a "no nonsense" vibe. Presumably, some portion of the order is boilerplate text that was cut and pasted, but not all of it is.
It's entirely possible that Cannon is proceeding in an ultra-professional manner now so that it will look better when she puts her thumb on the scale for Trump later. But the fact is that, thus far, all indications have been that she's going to run a serious trial without passion or prejudice. Keep in mind that when the Judge botched the earlier decisions in this case, she became an object of ridicule in the legal community, and she surely got some blowback from her fellow judges. Even if she wants to help the former president, she surely values her own reputation more highly. So, as we've written several times, it's very plausible she might run a tight and entirely evenhanded trial, just out of her own self-interest. (Z)