Judge Chutkan hands Trump legal win in federal election conspiracy case

A federal judge on Tuesday handed Donald Trump a legal win in the Jan. 6 election conspiracy case.

Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in Trump’s favor after his lawyers argued for an emergency motion to vacate a motion filed by special counsel Jack Smith.

Smith earlier in the day filed a motion for leave to file a document under seal without consulting the former president’s legal team, Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports. The details of that motion are not known.

CNBC reports that Trump’s lawyers in filings sought “to allow a three-week briefing process for Judge Tanya Chutkan to decide whether ‘every ordinary’ court filing that refers to sensitive materials should be placed on the court’s public docket.”

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Special counsel Jack Smith in a response argued that “’the Government filed its motion consistent with the terms of the Protective Order, which provides that ‘[i]f a party includes unredacted Sensitive Materials in any filing with the court, they should be submitted under seal.’”

Smith adds that “In his Motion to Vacate, the defendant instead suggests an unworkable three-week briefing process for the Court to decide whether every ordinary filing that refers to Sensitive Materials may be docketed,” and that “Such a requirement would grind litigation in this case to a halt, which is particularly infeasible given the pressing matters before the Court – including the defendants’ daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool in this case, as described in the Government’s motion.”