Special counsel Jack Smith threw a 'wrinkle' at SCOTUS that could speed up Trump hearing
During an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday morning, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance was asked to lay out the timeline for the Supreme Court to eventually hear and make a ruling on the question of presidential immunity being asserted by Donald Trump.
Speaking with host Jonathan Capehart, the former prosecutor stated that special counsel Jack Smith made a proposal — which she called a "wrinkle" — that could accelerate the process.
Reacting to the court declining to take up the case before a lower court rules on the former president's assertion that he can't be prosecuted by the DOJ for actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, Vance explained, "The next stage is the first layer of appeal which is a three judge panel in the appellate court. Trump could even ask for a motion for re-hearing. If he loses with that three-judge panel, it gives him a little bit of extra delay, but it's usually something that does not work out for a defendant to ask for a hearing from the same judges who ruled against him."
"Then he's got 45 days to ask the court to re-hear en banc, which would mean all of the active judges on the D.C. Circuit would participate," she elaborated. "And then he can apply for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court."
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She then explained, "There's one additional wrinkle we should mention. In Jack Smith's motion here, he asked the Supreme Court to consider if they would not hear the case directly, if they wanted to go to the Court of Appeals, he asked them to consider taking the case immediately following the Court of Appeals decision without waiting for en banc and the usual time for certiorari. The Supreme Court has been silent so far on that request so we don't know what they are thinking."
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