Trump was given an 'opportunity for mischief' in Supreme Court immunity case: analyst
February 14, 2024
The Supreme Court is now weighing whether they will take up a review of the D.C. Circuit Court's ruling that former President Donald Trump does not have presidential immunity in the federal election conspiracy case brought by special counsel Jack Smith — and the former president is desperate to delay and drag out the process at all costs so the trial can't happen during the election.
To that end, Slate legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern told MSNBC's Alex Wagner on Wednesday evening, there is one devious trick Trump could pull to try to force the justices to wait as long as possible.
"There are a lot of people, I think, in the federal special counsel's office, and maybe in the American public, who find all of this waiting and sort of what feels like a pro forma exercise, maybe, to be incredibly frustrating," said Wagner. "Why — I mean, what do you make of the justices ... that they will wait for Trump to reply here first? Is that a signal that they are going to take this case up? Or is that them sort of just trying to go by the books, man, and solely by the books?"
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"The justices absolutely want to play this by the books," confirmed Stern. "And that will mean waiting some period of time for Trump to file a reply brief."
"Now traditionally, that brief comes within about two days of the response," Stern continued. "So that would put us to sometime on Friday. And then after that point, the Supreme Court could rule anytime. But I'll note there's a real opportunity for mischief here, because the rules are so ambiguous, so notoriously vague. Trump could sort of sit on this, wait for days, even weeks, to file a reply brief, and put the Supreme Court in a real bind. They want to look like they're playing it by the book, but Donald Trump never plays it by the book. And so, I think one legitimate fear right now is that Trump could try to draw out this process by dawdling and filing his reply brief."
"If that does happen, I think there will be a tough call for the justices to make," he added. "But I do think they'll come down on the side of issuing an order. No, it doesn't follow the standard operating procedure, but they're not going to let one party manipulate their docket this way, even if that party is the former President of the United States."
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