{"id":16254,"date":"2024-03-01T00:46:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T00:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/legal-experts-say-jack-smiths-runway-to-try-trump-before-2024-election-just-got-a-lot-shorter\/"},"modified":"2024-03-01T00:46:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T00:46:27","slug":"legal-experts-say-jack-smiths-runway-to-try-trump-before-2024-election-just-got-a-lot-shorter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/01\/legal-experts-say-jack-smiths-runway-to-try-trump-before-2024-election-just-got-a-lot-shorter\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal experts say Jack Smith\u2019s runway to try Trump before 2024 election \u2018just got a lot shorter\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted review of former president Trump\u2019s claims of presidential immunity in the election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which throws into question at least the timeline for a possible trial in an election in which Trump is the likely GOP nominee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While some legal experts question the likelihood of success in Trump\u2019s arguments, they say that the high court\u2019s review sets back Smith\u2019s timeline to start a trial before an election and begs the question whether Attorney General Merrick Garland would \u2014 or should \u2014\u00a0approve going to trial just before the general election in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jonathan Turley, a practicing criminal defense attorney and professor at George Washington University, says \u2018the runway for Jack Smith just got a lot shorter.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I think that most people still believe that Smith can prevail before the Supreme Court. But the most immediate impact is that the runway for Jack Smith just got a lot shorter,\u2019 Turley said in an interview with Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s \u2018primary fight for the last few months has been to secure a trial before the election,\u2019 Turley said, adding that if the trial is after the election, \u2018there might not be a trial.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Turley said that, should a decision come down from the Supreme Court as late as June, between a \u2018host\u2019 of pre-trial motions and other procedural elements at the district court level \u2014 even if the district court were as \u2018motivated\u2019 as Smith to get a trial scheduled before the election \u2014 the earliest a trial could start is the fall.<\/p>\n

Turley noted the Department of Justice has a longstanding practice of avoiding any prosecutorial action that could be perceived as political within a certain time frame before the election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Justice Manual states, \u2018Federal prosecutors and agents may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.<\/p>\n

\u2018Such a purpose is inconsistent with the Department\u2019s mission and with the Principles of Federal Prosecution.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the DOJ can make timing requests of the court, it\u2019s ultimately up to a judge to set the court\u2019s calendar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The attorney general has a responsibility to maintain consistent application of departmental policy. This has nothing to do with the merits. Merrick Garland has been hands-off, has granted Smith almost total discretion as to the prosecution of the case. The timing of the case raises questions that remain within the attorney general\u2019s purview, in my view,\u2019 Turley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, said all the Biden campaign and the Democrats need is for one of Trump\u2019s trials to start before the general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018If that happens, the news coverage will be \u2018all Trump trial all the time,\u2019 especially if it\u2019s televised, and no one is going to be talking about the economy, illegal immigration, wars in Israel and Ukraine, Biden\u2019s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or super-high crime, gas prices, food prices and inflation,\u2019 Shu said.\u00a0\u2018It\u2019ll be worse than the O.J. Simpson trial.<\/p>\n

\u2018The way Jack Smith has been acting, it indicates that he has been keeping his eye on the electoral calendar.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2018This is all the more reason for the DOJ, in keeping with long-standing department policy in administrations from both parties, to delay trial if the date falls within two or three months before the presidential election,\u2019 Shu added.<\/p>\n

On the merits of the case before the nine justices, Turley said, \u2018Trump will have a difficult time securing a majority in favor of the totality of his argument that Trump has offered a sweeping claim of immunity and is likely to produce a level of sticker shock for the justices.\u2019<\/p>\n

But, Turley said, \u2018the justices may have a similar reaction to the lower court\u2019s opinion that some justices may be uncomfortable with \u2014 the lack of a clear line of when immunity will protect a president.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The interesting aspect of this is that many of us expected that many of the justices would have wanted this cup to pass from their lips. If they had simply denied review, they would not establish any precedent on presidential immunity,\u2019 Turley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The court has not been keen on delineating the lines of presidential immunity. The opinions that they have issued have had a certain room at the elbows in terms of the use of this protection.<\/p>\n

\u2018So, this will force the court to set down some precedent. It\u2019s very likely that some of the justices would like to see greater acknowledgment of immunity for the president, for a future president.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jim Trusty, former legal counsel for Trump and a former federal prosecutor, said \u2018the Trump team argument that he has absolute unqualified immunity while he\u2019s in office is not a winner.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018But I do think that there\u2019s a strong possibility that the court confirms that immunity protects the president, acting even in the furthest reaches of his responsibilities. That could well be enough to win the day on both Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago classified documents cases,\u2019 Trusty said.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department declined to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted review of former president Trump\u2019s claims of presidential immunity in the election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, which throws into question at least the timeline for a possible trial in an election in which Trump is the likely GOP nominee.\u00a0 While some legal experts question the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}