Monday, March 4, 2024

The Post Insurrection. Part VIII. The tangled web edition.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Sir Walter Scott, Marmion.


January 3, 2024.

Donald Trump's is appealing the ruling of the Secretary of State that Trump cannot stand for election under the 14th Amendment.

January 4, 2024

Trump is now appealing the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court that he cannot be on Colorado's ballot as he's an insurrectionist. The state's GOP had already filed an appeal.

More properly, this is a petition. The U.S. Supreme Court does not have to take the matter up.

January 6, 2024

The current docket at the Supreme Court on the Trump v. Colorado case:

Jan 03 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 5, 2024)
PetitionCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 03 2024Brief amici curiae of Senator Steve Daines & National Republican Senatorial Committee filed. VIDED.
Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
Jan 04 2024Letter from counsel for respondent Colorado Republican State Central Committee filed.
Main Document
Jan 04 2024Brief in response to the petition for a writ of certiorari of respondent Norma Anderson, et al. filed.
Main DocumentOtherCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 05 2024Petition GRANTED. The case is set for oral argument on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Petitioner’s brief on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support or in support of neither party, are to be filed on or before Thursday, January 18, 2024. Respondents’ briefs on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support, are to be filed on or before Wednesday, January 31, 2024. The reply brief, if any, is to be filed on or before 5 p.m., Monday, February 5 2024.
Jan 05 2024Amicus brief of Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee submitted.
Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
Jan 05 2024Amicus brief of States of Indiana, West Virginia, 25 Other States, and the Arizona Legislature submitted.
Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service

January 9, 2024

An actual exchange in a Federal Appellate Court where Trump's claims for immunity were heard today.

Judge:  "I asked you a yes or no question. Could a president who ordered S.E.A.L. Team 6 to assassinate a political rival (and is) not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?"

Trump attorney says "qualified yes -- if he is impeached and convicted first."

The entire qualified immunity argument is legally infirm in the first place and needs to go.  This will probably help make it go.  Apparently, the judges weren't impressed with Trump's lawyer's arguments at all.

January 19, 2024

A court in Oregon determined Trump can remain on the ballot there.

Trump's lawyers filed their briefs in the Supreme Court case on the 14th Amendment yesterday.

January 27, 2024

E. Jean Carroll was awarded $83.3M in her defamation case against Donald Trump.

This will be appealed and it's likely that it'll actually not be paid in that amount.

February 6, 2024

No immunity.


Of course, who really thought there was?

Unfortunately, the delay in issuing the opinion has resulted in the postponement of the trial originally scheduled for March.

Cont:

Matt Gaetz and Elise Stephanik have co-sponsored a resolution that Donald Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States on January 6, something that clear is an attempt to address the 14th Amendment in that insurrection may be excused under it.

Having said that, a resolution that it didn't occur will not excuse it, and this will not get through the Senate.

February 8, 2024

Based on today's oral arguments, it appears likely that the Supreme Court is not going to disqualify Donald Trump under the 14th Amendment.

February 13, 2024

Defendant Trump is seeking a delay in his election interference trial, hoping to push it past the election, when he'll next hope that he can avoid it while President.

February 16, 2024

Nor really related to the other post insurrection legal woes that Donald Trump faces, his trial related to Stormy Daniel's hush money is set to commence on March 25.

In a more decent era, his payment to Daniels for sex would have ended his political career, but we obviously no longer live in a decent era.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified regarding her relationship with the prosecutor assigned in the Georgia RICO action.

In another matter which is tangentially related to Trump's legal woes, House Republican effort to impeach Biden, which are monumentally improper, took a blow when Alexander Smirnov, an FBI informant was charged with fabricating a bribery scheme involving President Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian company, which is what the attempt to impeach him is based on, other than on a desire for revenge.

Cont:

Trump has been found liable in New York in the civil fraud trial in the amount of $364,000,000 and is barred from doing business in New York for three years.

February 23, 2024

Trump's daughter-in-law who is campaigning for appointment to the RNC declared that Republican voters would likely welcome using RNC funds to support his legal battles.

I'd strongly question if this was legal, and frankly it likely opens the RNC up, in my view, to a Rico charge.

February 29, 2024

A Court in Illinois has ruled that Trump is banned from the Illinois ballot under the 14th Amendment, but stayed her decision until Friday in order to give him time to appeal.

The United States Supreme Court will take up Trump's immunity appeal, which will further delay his January 6 trial.  

At this point, I think it highly unlikely that the January 6 trial will be heard this year, which means that it likely won't be heard until 2028, which is s true injustice.

March 4, 2024

And now the Supreme Court has ruled. Trump stays on the ballot, insurrection notwithstanding.

The basis is that Congress hasn't enacted a law to enforce the 14th Amendment and the Court finds it not be a self enacting statute




Secretary of State Gray chimed in:

Secretary Gray Applauds Supreme Court Decision Keeping Trump on Ballot in 2024

     CHEYENNE, WY – On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous decision reversing the Colorado Supreme Court’s December ruling to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in 2024. Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray previously filed an Amicus Curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that the Supreme Court should reverse the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to bar Donald Trump from the ballot under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. Secretary Gray’s brief argued that Trump did not engage in an insurrection or rebellion, nor give aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States.

     “I am extremely pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision reversing the Colorado Supreme Court’s repugnant ruling,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “As Wyoming’s chief election officer, I filed an Amicus brief in January asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Colorado’s outrageously wrong and unprecedented decision. For this, I have been repeatedly attacked by the radical left-wing media, and even members of the Legislature, for my efforts to ensure that Trump will be on the ballot. Today’s unanimous decision keeping Trump on the ballot marks vindication for the truth and for liberty. As Secretary of State, I will continue to fight to ensure the People of Wyoming can choose who to elect for themselves.”

Last Prior Edition:

The Post Insurrection. Part VII. The Insurrectionist.


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