Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to deny Donald Trump sweeping immunity and the ability to delay a trial on charges of attempting to subvert the 2020 election. Smith argued that Trump's claims have no basis in the Constitution or American history, emphasizing that presidents are not above the law. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on April 25, with a decision expected by July. Trump and Smith have presented contrasting views on presidential immunity, with Smith asserting that accountability for alleged violations of federal law is a fundamental principle of the constitutional order.
Special counsel Jack Smith has urged the Supreme Court to reject Donald Trump's claim of immunity and allow the federal election-subversion trial to reach a jury this year. The case has been on hold since December, as Trump has pressed his claim of immunity from criminal charges for his attempt to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election. Smith argues that the public has a compelling interest in seeing the charges brought to trial promptly. The Supreme Court's handling of Trump's request may determine whether he can face trial on the federal election charges in 2024.
Former President Trump filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that future presidents could be vulnerable to blackmail and extortion if the justices did not agree to his view of immunity against special counsel Jack Smith's election subversion charges. The brief highlights the potential consequences for all future presidents facing criminal prosecution for politically controversial decisions. Trump's arguments for immunity come ahead of the Supreme Court's scheduled arguments on April 25 to decide on his immunity from prosecution for overturning the 2020 election results.
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has instructed special counsel Jack Smith to obtain permission before submitting court filings in the 2020 election subversion case against former President Donald Trump. The judge did not hold Smith's team in contempt but indicated that pre-trial deadlines could be extended. The trial, currently scheduled for March, may be delayed as a result. The case is on hold until the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, determines key questions about presidential immunity. Judge Chutkan's decision aligns with recent requests from Trump's legal team.
A New York judge denied Donald Trump's request to postpone his hush money trial scheduled for April 15 until the Supreme Court rules on his claim of presidential immunity. Trump's lawyers had raised the immunity issue late in the proceedings, arguing that evidence in the case involves official acts from his time as president. Prosecutors opposed further delays, stating that media coverage won't subside, and Trump's own publicity-seeking actions should not be rewarded with adjournment. The trial focuses on allegations of falsified records to hide payments to lawyer Michael Cohen for suppressing negative stories during Trump's 2016 campaign.
Special Counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors involved in the criminal indictment of Donald Trump in Florida have expressed concerns over a judge's order that could potentially bias the trial in Trump's favor. The prosecutors disputed the order suggesting Trump had the right to keep classified documents as personal records, stating it would distort the trial. This public discord between prosecutors and Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, stems from disagreements over legal interpretations in the ongoing case investigating Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office.
A federal appeals court has rejected a request to rehear a ruling that allowed special counsel Jack Smith to access private communications from Donald Trump’s Twitter account. The court’s conservative judges criticized the previous rulings, claiming they eroded executive privilege. The judges expressed concern that the precedent could lead prosecutors to access privileged materials of sitting presidents without notification through third-party platforms. Despite their criticism, the judges agreed with their Democratic-appointed colleagues that the case did not need to be reheard. The ruling can now be appealed to the Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will hear arguments on two of Donald Trump's motions to dismiss the case involving mishandling classified documents, with prosecutors opposing Trump's claims of immunity and selective prosecution. Special counsel Jack Smith urges to reject Trump's arguments on transforming presidential records to personal records and asserts that the charges against Trump are valid under the Presidential Records Act. The hearing is set for March 14 in Florida, where Trump faces criminal charges including retaining national defense information and obstructing justice.
A New York Appeals Court has denied former President Trump's request to delay his trial on charges related to hush-money payments, despite his concerns about prejudicial pretrial publicity. Trump's motion to change the trial venue and for the judge's recusal were also denied. The trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on April 15th.
Federal prosecutors are expressing concerns about the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's classified documents case in Florida, warning against potential jury instructions based on a flawed legal premise involving the Presidential Records Act. The judge's consideration of Trump's argument that he was entitled to retain sensitive documents under this act has raised alarms, with prosecutors emphasizing that the law does not apply to highly classified materials like those allegedly stored at Mar-a-Lago. Special counsel Jack Smith's team has indicated readiness to appeal if the judge allows Trump to invoke the PRA in his defense.
US Special Counsel Jack Smith accuses Donald Trump of wanting a televised trial to divert attention from the charges and launch a PR campaign, while Trump warns Smith and other Justice Department officials will end up in a mental institution if he is re-elected; however, Trumps trial is unlikely to be televised as it violates federal rules on criminal procedure, and there is no reason to make an exception for his case, according to Smiths team.
Former President Donald Trump has sued a New York judge to change the location of his hush money criminal trial and to dismiss an expanded gag order that limits his ability to comment on the case. The trial is currently scheduled to begin next week, and Trump faces felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records. The lawsuit aims to delay the trial and targets New York Justice Juan Merchan. Trump's legal team is seeking to keep the case from moving forward by challenging the trial's proceedings.
Attorneys for special counsel Jack Smith and former President Donald Trump proposed new trial dates for Trump's criminal trial on charges related to mishandling classified documents. Federal prosecutors suggested a July 8 start date, while Trump's attorneys proposed an Aug. 12 trial date, citing his status as a leading candidate in the 2024 election and the need for a fair trial. The case has faced delays due to legal issues, with conflicts over trial dates in Georgia. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of misleading federal investigators and obstructing the investigation.
John Luman Smith (born June 5, 1969) is an American attorney who has served in the United States Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. attorney, acting U.S. attorney, and head of the department's Public Integrity Section. He was also the chief prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, an international tribunal at The Hague tasked with investigating and prosecuting war crimes in the Kosovo War.In November 2022, attorney general Merrick Garland appointed Smith an independent special counsel, responsible for overseeing two preexisting Justice Department criminal investigations into former president Donald Trump, three days after Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign: one regarding Trump's role in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and the other into alleged mishandling of government records, including classified documents. The documents case resulted in a 37-count indictment of Trump in June 2023 to which three counts were later added in July. In August, the January 6 case resulted in an indictment on four charges.
Former President Donald Trump's legal team has filed a notice of appeal in his Manhattan criminal case, challenging the gag order and venue for the trial, with plans to sue the judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, in an effort to delay the trial set to begin on April 15.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated in an interview with CNN that he supports a speedy trial in the election subversion case against Donald Trump. He agrees with special counsel Jack Smith's assertion that the public interest requires a speedy trial in the 2020 election case. Garland defended the Department of Justice against allegations of election interference, stating that the cases were brought when the prosecutor believed they were ready. He also addressed concerns about the department targeting Trump for political reasons and mentioned that the trial dates will be determined by the courts.
Judge Juan Merchan in New York blocks Donald Trump's legal team from forcing NBC to hand over materials related to a recent documentary about Stormy Daniels. The ruling, just before the April 15 trial, pertains to 34 felony counts against Trump for alleged falsifying of business records for hush money payments. The judge called the subpoena a 'fishing expedition' lacking legal merit. Trump, facing multiple criminal cases, allegedly concealed hush money payments through his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Stormy Daniels, central to the case, is expected to serve as a key witness despite defense attempts to delay the trial pending Supreme Court rulings on presidential immunity claims.
From the 1970s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in U.S. federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes. He has also been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault, with one accusation resulting in Trump being held civilly liable.In 2015, his lawyer Alan Garten called this "a natural part of doing business" in the United States. While litigation is indeed common in the real estate industry, Trump has been involved in more legal cases than his fellow magnates Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., Donald Bren, Stephen M. Ross, Sam Zell, and Larry Silverstein combined.Numerous legal affairs persisted during Trump's presidency. Since he left office, multiple investigations focus on him:Between October 2021 and July 2022 alone, the Republican National Committee paid more than $2 million to attorneys representing Trump in his capacity as president and in his personal and business capacities. The New York Times published an overview of his legal involvements as of September 2022. In January 2023, a federal judge fined Trump and his attorney nearly $1 million, characterizing him as "a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries."On December 6, 2022, Trump's company The Trump Organization was convicted on 17 criminal charges.On March 30, 2023, in People v. Trump, he was indicted on 34 felony counts by a grand jury in Manhattan, New York. He was arraigned on the charges on April 4, 2023, and pleaded not guilty to all counts.On March 25, 2024, Trump is scheduled to stand trial on state criminal charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film actress prior to his election to the presidency.On May 9, 2023, regarding E. Jean Carroll's claims of defamation and sexual assault, an anonymous jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse (but not rape) and defamation against Carroll and ordered Trump to pay her $5 million in damages.In June 2023, Trump was indicted on federal criminal charges relating to his handling of classified documents and was arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. On May 14, 2024, there will be a pretrial hearing.On August 14, 2023, he was criminally indicted by a grand jury in Georgia on state election-related charges. Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Fani Willis investigated his efforts to overturn that state's 2020 presidential election results.On September 26, 2023, in New York v. Trump, a judge issued a summary judgment finding Trump and his two adult sons liable for fraud regarding fraudulent overvaluation of The Trump Organization's assets and Trump's net worth. On February 16, 2024, following a three-month trial, Trump, The Trump Organization, his sons, and the former chief financial officer were fined a total of $364 million. A week later, the court finalized that Trump must also pay $100 million in interest. Trump appealed.On January 12, 2024, a case regarding an alleged pyramid scheme was dismissed from federal court, with plaintiffs recommended to file cases in state courts.On January 26, 2024, he was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages.In 2024, he will face trial on federal charges related to the 2020 election.
Former President Donald Trump compared himself to Nelson Mandela as he ranted about his court cases, daring to go to jail for violating a gag order in his New York trial. Judge Juan Merchan expanded the gag order after Trump's attacks. Trump persisted in his comparisons to Mandela, facing 88 charges across federal and state cases. The Biden campaign criticized Trump's self-comparison to Mandela. Trump faces consequences for violating the gag order, with potential fines or jail time. Orders restricting public statements by defendants are common in legal proceedings.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in Manhattan for a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, along with allegations of orchestrating a scheme to influence the 2016 election. The trial will last up to two months and is the first of Trump's four criminal cases to go to trial. Trump denies all wrongdoing and accuses the district attorney of a politically motivated witch hunt.
A group of Pennsylvania lawmakers, including 27 GOP members, are appealing to the Supreme Court over Executive Order 14019 on voting access, claiming it benefits Biden's party unfairly. The case was initially dismissed, citing lack of standing, and involves accusations of unconstitutional actions by Biden. Attorney Erick Kaardal emphasizes the importance of holding Biden accountable for issuing the order without congressional backing. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, celebrates the dismissal, labeling the lawsuit as frivolous.
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, announced his campaign for a non-consecutive second presidential term in the 2024 U.S. presidential election on November 15, 2022.Trump has campaigned on vastly expanding the authority of the federal government, particularly the executive branch, which calls for a reimposition of the Jacksonian spoils system, immediately invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military onto American streets, and directing the Department of Justice to go after domestic political enemies. Other campaign issues include: implementing anti-immigrant policies and a massive deportation operation; pursuing an isolationist "America First" foreign policy agenda; repealing the Affordable Care Act; pursuing a climate change denial and anti-clean energy platform; terminating the Department of Education; implementing anti-LGBT policies; and pursuing what has been described as a neomercantilist trade agenda. Trump has been leaning into violent and authoritarian rhetoric throughout the campaign. Trump has increasingly used dehumanizing and violent rhetoric against his political enemies. His 2024 campaign has been noted for leaning into nativist and anti-LGBT rhetoric.The campaign is unfolding as Trump faces the legal aftermath of four criminal indictments filed against him in 2023, as well as a civil investigation of the Trump Organization in New York. The campaign has continued to promote false claims that the former 2020 election was stolen, and comes in the wake of Trump's unprecedented attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election and its culmination in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, which has been widely described as an attempted coup d'état or self-coup.National primary polling shows Trump leading by 50 points over other candidates. After he won a landslide victory in the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Trump was generally described as being the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president, with a process of consolidation now underway.
Elon Musk is challenging a decision by a Supreme Court justice in Brazil who ordered his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to block certain accounts. Musk called for the judge's resignation, criticizing the restrictions imposed and promising to legally challenge the order. Brazil's solicitor general criticized Musk's decision and called for regulation of social media networks. The judge in question, Alexandre de Moraes, is actively combating online misinformation in Brazil and had previously initiated investigations into other tech companies for violating laws.
During and after his term as President of the United States, Donald Trump made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims. The Washington Post's fact-checkers documented 30,573 false or misleading claims during his presidential term, an average of about 21 per day. The Toronto Star tallied 5,276 false claims from January 2017 to June 2019, an average of 6.1 per day. Commentators and fact-checkers have described the scale of Trump's mendacity as "unprecedented" in American politics, and the consistency of falsehoods a distinctive part of his business and political identities. Scholarly analysis of Trump's tweets found "significant evidence" of an intent to deceive.By June 2019, after initially resisting, many news organizations began to describe some of his falsehoods as "lies". The Washington Post said his frequent repetition of claims he knew to be false amounted to a campaign based on disinformation. Trump campaign CEO and presidency chief strategist Steve Bannon said that the press, rather than Democrats, was Trump's primary adversary and "the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."As part of their attempts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Trump and his allies repeatedly falsely claimed there had been massive election fraud and that Trump had won the election. Their effort was characterized by some as an implementation of the big lie propaganda technique.On June 8, 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump on one count of making "false statements and representations", specifically by hiding subpoenaed classified documents from his own attorney who was trying to find and return them to the government. In August 2023, 21 of Trump's falsehoods about the 2020 election were listed in his Washington, D.C. indictment, while 27 were listed in his Georgia indictment.
The Supreme Court seems likely to reject a Republican-led effort that could reshape how politicians communicate with major social media companies with sweeping consequences for government efforts to secure elections and combat health misinformation. 1 / 3.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.Established by Article Three of the United States Constitution, the composition and procedures of the Supreme Court were initially established by the 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789. The court consists of nine justices: the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, and the justices meet at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Justices have lifetime tenure, meaning they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office. When a vacancy occurs, the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoints a new justice. Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court. When in the majority, the chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court; otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the task of writing the opinion.The Supreme Court receives on average about 7,000 petitions for writs of certiorari each year, but grants only 75–85.
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom constitute a quorum. Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution grants plenary power to the president of the United States to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, appoint justices to the Supreme Court; justices have life tenure.
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