Dem
51
GOP
49
It is remarkable the extent to which the courts are willing to bend over backwards to evaluate cockamamie legal arguments from Donald Trump and his lawyers. Maybe they are just trying to treat him fairly. Or maybe they worry that with someone as well-heeled and as litigious as he is, absolutely every i needs to be dotted and every t needs to be crossed. In triplicate.
On Wednesday, a Georgia appeals court agreed to consider the question of whether or not DA Fani Wallis should be disqualified from prosecuting the case. The argument for booting her is silly, and does not comport with the law, and was soundly rejected by Judge Scott McAfee. But the appeals court is going to take another look-see, anyhow. Trump has 10 days to formally file the paperwork (presumably it will be submitted at 4:59 p.m. on the 10th day), and then the court will take however long it takes to deal with the matter. McAfee has not yet set a date for the trial, and he presumably won't until after this matter is settled.
That means that, once again, the odds improve that Trump gets to Election Day without going to trial (outside of the New York trial that is already underway). We shared our opinion that the Washington trial still might get done before the election, and got a fair bit of pushback from readers. For example, this from reader J.H. in Boston, MA:
You write that your guess is that the Chutkan trial, which is currently waiting for the SCOTUS immunity ruling, will happen before the election. Maybe, but many of the analyses I read about the types of questions the justices were asking at the immunity hearing suggested that they are going to send it back to the lower court with some new wisdom about deciding which presidential acts are official or whatever. Meaning that Chutkan can't start once the SCOTUS rules, we have to wait for that other new ruling. Worst possible outcome for anyone hoping for a fast trial.
It's a fair point. Our thought was that the appeals courts, unlike the Supreme Court, have tended to deal with Trump-related questions very rapidly. So, we suppose it ultimately depends on two things: (1) how willing Chutkan is to stage a trial at the height of campaign season, and (2) whether the Supremes feel the need to weigh in again, after they kick the matter downward. (Z)