Trump Appeals To SCOTUS; Roundup
Trump is trying to break out of the NY state judicial system preemptively. The NY case was always headed for the SCOTUS, as was discussed here, due to the state prosecutor’s reliance on a federal statute:
Surprisingly, Prof. Turley seemed to think that Trump would simply go through the state appeals process before getting into the federal court system. That view failed to take into account Merchan’s apparent desire to retain the ability to meddle in Trump’s presidency at will. Thus Turley wrote, at the time the sentencing date was announced:
The sentencing, however, will have another impact. Trump will finally be able to appeal this horrendous case. It has always been a target-rich opportunity for appeal, but Trump could no[t] launch a comprehensive appeal until after he was sentenced.
Those appellate issues include charges based on a novel criminal theory through which New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg not only zapped a dead misdemeanor into life (after the expiration of the statute of limitation) but based a state charge on federal election law and federal taxation violations. So, after the Justice Department declined to prosecute federal violations, Bragg effectively did so in state court with Merchan’s blessing.
The issues also include Merchan’s absurd instructions to the jury. The novel theory demanded a secondary offense, the crime that Trump was seeking to conceal by listing payments as legal expenses. Merchan allowed the jury to find that the secondary offense was any of an array of vaguely defined options. Even on the jury form, they did not have to specify which crimes were found. Merchan did not require even a majority, let alone a unanimous jury, to agree on what actually occurred.
Under Merchan’s instruction, the jury could have split four-four-four on whether this was all done to conceal a federal election violation, falsification of business records or taxation violations. Neither Trump nor the public will ever know.
Even CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig denounced the case as legally flawed and unprecedented. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently put it more simply and called the case total “b—s–t.”
While expectations are not great for the New York legal system itself, this case will eventually go to the United States Supreme Court.
But the process of a state judge reserving the right to interfere in national governance means that there are far bigger issues of constitutional government at stake.
There’s also a larger context to this case—one which goes back to the SCOTUS’ decision to take a basically hands off approach to the fraudulent 2020 national election. In fairness, the SCOTUS was in a difficult political position in 2020, given that the entire political establishment had joined to oust Trump—by hook or by crook. That had led to a situation in which normal legal challenges had not taken place in a timely fashion. What happened in the aftermath, of course, was that the political establishment launched a legal jihad against Trump’s supporters and against Trump personally. That has deeply damaged public trust in the judiciary. That legal jihad also included the use of illegitimate interpretations of law that the SCOTUS ended up quashing. A further result of the SCOTUS’ hands off approach was the installation of a mentally challenged and deeply corrupt politician to the presidency—with all the predictable consequences of lack of any clear accountability for momentous decisions of war and peace and more. It exposed constitutional deficiencies (the 25th process) and ended with a travesty of the pardon process on a never before seen scale.
In those same four years, however, Trump did the SCOTUS a favor. He took control of the national GOP party apparatus and delivered a landslide victory beyond the margin of fraud, thus delivering the SCOTUS from another politically fraught moment. Dems are now hoping to extend their legal jihad in perilous times for the nation, even after four disastrous years brought about by a reckless political establishment.
The SCOTUS has a chance to attempt to bring closure to this sorry spectacle and allow normal governance to resume. Normally, the SCOTUS is disposed to allow cases to work their way through the appeals process, step by step. However, there are always exceptions for exceptional cases. Trump’s attorneys are arguing that this is such an exceptional case—perhaps unprecedentedly so:
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Halt Sentencing In Hush Money Case
Trump’s legal team filed an emergency request with the nation’s highest court on Wednesday, arguing that proceeding with the sentencing could cause “grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” according to The Associated Press.
The Supreme Court requested a response from New York prosecutors by Thursday.
The case, presided over by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, resulted in Trump’s conviction in May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Merchan has indicated that he does not intend to impose jail time, fines, or probation at the sentencing, and in fact the only reason for the sentencing is so CNN/MSNBC can officially claim that Trump is a convicted felon.
For history buffs:
Armchair Warlord @ArmchairW
The closest historical analogy to the Ukrainian War I can think of is the American Civil War - ironically a conflict that Europeans have always shied away from carefully studying.
The former president of Georgia [a French national] became a Henry ‘Kissinger’ fellow at the ‘McCain’ institute. In case you’re still not sure about the politics of Georgian opposition.
Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal
What hell could Trump "break loose" on Gaza which wasn't already imposed under Biden and his partners in the Israeli Holocaust regime? This empty bluster is a half-baked implementation of Kissinger's madman theory against besieged resistance fighters who refuse to be cowed.
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
I see no-one mentioning this but Zelenskyy literally accused the US and the West in general to have embezzled half (!!!) of the money they granted to Ukraine, which he says they never received.
It's possible of course that Ukraine themselves embezzled it (or at least part of it) but still, fact remains that we now have Zelenskyy himself admitting that absolutely gigantic amounts of money have disappeared ("half of $177 billion" as he says); which in a normal media ecosystem would be a scandal of enormous proportions.
I love Trump. He's finallly achieved what many of us have been trying to do for years. Make the UK and Europe realise, that the US is not our friend. Just another competitor. Now its times for us to look after ourselves. First thing. Revive relations with Russia and get the pipelines pumping again. Its time to put the British and European economies first. And the living standards of our people. Nothing else is more important.
-- GEROMAN -- time will tell - -- @GeromanAT
another episode of "NATO is united as never before"
DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics
 Arm Greenland now! Give them everything they need to stop Trump's imperialist takeover! We cannot let the US invade Greenland—it's a matter of survival! The Danish military must be fully supported, and every resource must go towards defending Greenland from American aggression! It doesn’t matter if you suffer a little in the process—defending Greenland is the only way to prevent Trump from invading Europe next! No more excuses, no more delays—Greenland must be free from Trump's grasp! All hands on deck to ensure this vital territory remains sovereign!
Slava Grønland!
8th largest economy in the world, larger than France:
Who thinks Trump doesn’t remember the role Brit Intel played in the Russia Hoax? And then Starmer sent political operatives to help Kama Sutra? Think this may also play into the Canada moves?
Strong sterling relies heavily on the City of London functioning properly — but Wall Street keeps stealing its business. @philippilk on the UK’s economic dilemma
It is no secret that the British economy, after years of deindustrialisation, relies heavily on its financial sector. Any serious sterling volatility would be a huge threat to this sector which relies on its ability to sell sterling assets at relatively stable prices. The Treasury would have to do whatever it takes to stabilise the currency, which could include a return to extremely harsh austerity through spending cuts and tax increases.
Meanwhile, the Musk-Starmer hostility adds a further worrying dimension for the UK. It is valid to wonder why Musk is being so aggressive. Since he is part of the incoming Trump administration, it is fair to assume that if Trump disapproved of what he was doing they would ask him to tone it down. But Trump himself has signalled that he does not care. Labour must be vigilant about the new administration turning its back on the Special Relationship.
A lone-wolf America would have huge economic ramifications for the UK. Britain’s foreign borrowing is not facilitated by some windy belief on the part of foreigners that sterling is as “good as gold”. It is facilitated by the existence of the City of London, without which Britain would have drastically lower living standards. The City is in constant rivalry with Wall Street, and the London Stock Exchange has been losing listings to the US.
If the Americans decide that they want to “reshore” much of the City’s business by becoming more attractive than London for investors, doing so would only require some pressure on the relevant firms from the US Treasury. In more ways than one it appears that not just Keir Starmer, but the entire British establishment is in a serious bind.
Chris Steele seems like a wheeler and a dealer. Time to dispatch him as special envoy to The Donald?
Trump has a pending interlocutory appeal under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 7801 et
seq. in the nature of a writ of prohibition in the New York Appellate Division which should automatically prohibit Merchan from proceeding until that appeal is decided but he seems to be ignoring this and the appeals court has denied a stay as of yesterday, which has me baffled. One would hope that SCOTUS will slap these judges upside the head for ignoring what is basic legal procedure everywhere.
Slava Grønland!