Trump and the Courts
By Richard C. Gross
“Delay is the enemy of progress.”
--Eliot Spitzer, former New York governor
The Supreme Court, despite pleas for it to act swiftly, sure is taking its sweet time about when to hear arguments about Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution while acting as a sitting president.
The court scheduled oral arguments for April 22, which is about seven weeks away. The matter could take weeks longer, perhaps into early summer, if the justices sought to decide the crucial issue before the end of its term. Otherwise, it could lapse until a new session begins in October.
The decision means the original start next week of Trump’s trial on criminal charges related to overturning the 2020 election must be postponed. Special counsel Jack Smith wanted a speedy trial. Good luck with that.
The court order said it will decide “whether and if so to what extent does the former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”
It’s worth noting that the hours of deadly rioting at the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 occurred while he still very much was president, a post he didn’t give up until Joe Biden was sworn in Jan. 20.
The justices knew this matter was significant far beyond a routine case and thus could have acted more rapidly, if they wanted. Maybe they just didn’t want to. Is the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority set in place by Trump as president, acting too lackadaisically on purpose?
Where is the urgency in a case that could have a bearing on the outcome of the November election? Trump no doubt is delighted with the delay, with delay one of his tactics in trying to beat charges leveled against him by running out the clock.
I believe it’s incumbent on the court to act as swiftly as possible for the good of the entire country. Don’t you?
Smith even went to lengths in December to eliminate this obvious speed bump by skipping the appeals court and going directly to the Supreme Court to settle the issue.
“A cornerstone of our constitutional order is that no person is above the law,” he wrote in an 81-page filing in December. “The force of that principle is at its zenith where, as here, a grand jury has accused a former president of committing federal crimes to subvert the peaceful transfer of power to his elected successor. Nothing could be more vital to our democracy than that a president who abuses the electoral system to remain in office is held accountable for criminal conduct.”
The four criminal charges totaling 91 felonies against Trump include conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against the right to vote.
If Trump sounds bitter and angry at rallies and elsewhere on the campaign trail, he may be justified because he’s got to come up with about half a billion bucks in a few weeks and there may not be enough money in the till.
But he’s bragged over and over that he’s a self-made billionaire. So, if he’s got the billions he says he has, he should be off the hook. Just move money around and eventually write a check. No? No. It’s probably not that easy.
Trump had asked a New York appeals court judge to stay a judgment levying at least a $450 million penalty, including interest, for providing false information to lenders about the value of his properties so he could borrow money at lower rates.
Associate Justice Anil C. Singh rejected the stay, which would have permitted Trump to post a $100 million bond up front instead of having to pay possibly $500 million within the originally ordered 30 days. His attorneys had argued that if the stay were not granted, then Trump would be forced to sell properties to meet the original fines.
Hey, it’s only money, right? But the former president also faces payment of $83.3 million in a defamation ruling. Life has a way of catching up with someone. And there are more trials to come.
All that lost money. And no more Daddy Fred to bail him out. How many gold sneakers will it take to pay some of these huge bills?
On the same day Wednesday, an Illinois judge ruled Trump’s name can’t appear on the state’s primary ballot because he engaged in an insurrection.
This puts the Midwestern state in company with Colorado and Maine, if you’re keeping count. And it’s the most populous of the three. That should give more hope for the Never-Trumpers, but there’s a caveat (isn’t there always): The Supreme Court has taken on the issue and could rule these states can’t dump Trump because their reasoning may not be sound enough to disqualify him.
“This is an unconstitutional ruling and that we will quickly appeal,” a Trump spokesman said.
More lawyers, more money. It never seems to end. If this keeps up, Trump may have to give up Trump Force One, his Boeing 757-200 that was built in 1991. How much can he get for a 33-year-old plane, a used Danish and Mexican airliner?
Richard C. Gross, who covered war and peace in the Middle East and the Pentagon, was foreign editor of United Press International and the opinion page editor of The Baltimore Sun.