The Trump case is remanded back to the District court of more hearings on what was and what was not an official act
This was about as good as Trump could have hoped for when he entered this appeal. He got a long delay, the case is forced back to the district court for more hearings, and ultimately he can claim he was vindicated in what most people believed was a long shot lawsuit. When you include the court's overturning of the obstruction charges, the Smith case seems to have been seriously wounded and will need to be reworked.
There are two options for Smith. One would be to try to use the "fake electors" charges as means to prove the more serious obstruction charges that might hypothetically fall in line with certain readings of the USSC ruling. The concept would be that adding documents is in line with obstruction the proceedings as it pertains to official documents. However, that argument is dubious at best, complicates matters, and ultimately makes an appeal (and a win) almost certain. Moreover, the charges right now are based on the people entering the capital who were charged with obstruction, not on the "fake electors" who were not charges with obstruction. I might not be an attorney, but I might think that Smith would need a new indictment if he is going to change his legal theory.
The other option would be to move on from the more serious obstruction charges and move forward with the conspiracy to defraud the Government and the conspiracy against the rights of citizens. However, under normal circumstance, this would be a tough case without the obstruction case. I doubt any prosecutor other than Smith would bring these sorts of obscure and inventive charges on their own without some other meat and potato charges to go with them. But this is Jack Smith and his reputation for stretching the law precedes him (which is why he was chosen).
All that being said, the USSC did remand the case back to the District court and ordered Judge Chutkan to hold hearings on what portions of Smith case fall under official and unofficial actions. Most observers felt that if this was truly ordered by the court, that it would make holding a trial before the election next to impossible. But I am skeptical of this idea, as both Smith and Chutkan have been bound and determined to get a trial in (any trial) before the election. It would not be unlike Chutkan to expediate everything as fast as possible with the hopes to still get something on the docket.
Man I love this court, if Cankles had won we’d be so cooked
And Alky will die copying and pasting from the looney bin, before he ever gets a 5-4 SCOTUS
Gee look what Roger wrote up... all by himself. No cut and paste here!
EMAIL
halfbaked@yahoo.com
MESSAGE...
The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority fundamentally altered American democracy on Monday, awarding the president a sweeping and novel immunity when he weaponizes the power of his office for corrupt, violent, or treasonous purposes. This near-insurmountable shield against prosecution for crimes committed while in office upends the structure of the federal government, elevating the presidency to a king-like status high above the other branches. The immediate impact of the court’s sweeping decision will be devastating enough, allowing Donald Trump to evade accountability for the most destructive and criminal efforts he took to overturn the 2020 election. But the long-term impact is even more harrowing.…
The court also seems to chastise Chutkan for expediating the case with a "lack of factual analysis", suggesting that they (the USSC) did not have enough facts given to them to make necessary conclusions. They imply (if not outright state) that this was because of the nature of case being fast-tracked without careful thought and consideration to any of the objections of the defense.
Thus remanding back to the District court where the Chutkan will need to ask for, be provided, analyze, and then make rulings on many of these issues that seem murky due to a disagreement between Defense and Prosecution. These are all issues that was not actually litigated with any real substance. Issues that she wanted to…
Reading further into this, the opinion also suggests that prosecutors cannot use actions taken that are part of official acts to assist in proving crimes for actions that are not official acts.
They pretty much ruled he is immune for any engagement with the DOJ and they ruled he was presumptively immune from any discussions he had with Mike Pence. They even suggest that speaking to the public is an official Presidential act (even if it is done on social media).
Maybe it is just me, but if those actions were part of what he is used to garner an indictment, one might believe that the entire indictment must be revisited?