Jan. 6 subversion trial date off calendar

Left: FILE — The U.S. Supreme Court is seen before sunrise on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)/ Center: (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)/ Right: Right Donald Trump. File AP Photo by: zz/John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx 2022 7/20/22.

Donald Trump’s trial date of March 4 to face charges that he criminally conspired to subvert the 2020 election has been vacated in Washington, D.C. But Trump’s legal team will return to the nation’s capital in a matter of days when on Thursday, Feb. 8, his lawyers and prosecutors will argue at the U.S. Supreme Court and ask them to decide whether Section III of the Fourteenth Amendment bars Trump from holding office given a lower court’s finding that he engaged in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

From the docket:

MINUTE ORDER as to DONALD J. TRUMP: The February 9, 2024 administration of a written questionnaire to prospective jurors, as set forth in the court’s 130 Order, is hereby VACATED. In addition, the March 4, 2024 trial set by the court’s 39 Pretrial Order, as amended, is hereby VACATED. The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 2/2/2024. (zjd)

Law&Crime takes a look at those developments and others around Trump’s other cases in Georgia, Florida and New York.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

CRIMINAL

Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against the rights of voters through oppression, threats and intimidation

The Groundhog’s Day decision from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had been anticipated and even appeared imminent a day ago when the trial date dropped off the courthouse calendar though a formal order had not yet then been entered. Prospective jurors were expected to start filing into the federal courthouse to complete a questionnaire as soon as next week but Chutkan’s order clarifies that will not happen until a new schedule is set “when the mandate is returned.”

The postponement comes as a ruling is anticipated from the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.on the question of Trump’s immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president. Oral arguments were an uphill fight for Trump’s lawyers who claimed Trump could not be prosecuted because it would otherwise encroach on the executive powers and upset the separation of powers, generally. He also argues he cannot be prosecuted because he was already impeached by the House, though not convicted by the Senate, for inciting an insurrection.

But even if a decision from the appellate court were to come promptly, Trump will likely appeal, either to the en banc panel or to the Supreme Court. The appeals court is not beholden to a deadline and could still take weeks to make a decision.

OF NOTE: With the D.C. trial set aside, that means Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan may be the first to go forward in March as prosecutors led by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg have hoped. More below.

CONSTITUTIONAL

In Trump v. Anderson, the court will resolve whether Donald Trump is eligible to run for office or if he is disqualified under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, specifically, Section III of that amendment which bars those who “engage” in insurrection from holding office.

Simply put, Trump’s attorneys contend the decision by the Colorado State Supreme Court was unconstitutional and disenfranchised voters nationally. When the argument goes to the justices on Thursday, it will be the first time in history they will hear a question involving the Civil War-era provision.

The parties will argue whether Section III, also known as the “insurrection clause” applies to presidents, specifically, whether Trump is considered an officer of the United States under the statute’s definition and more.

Notably, in a hefty amicus brief, dozens of historians have called on the high court to consider that even Jefferson Davis, leader of the Confederacy, knew the insurrection clause disqualified him and that a president was considered an “officer” of the United States.

OF NOTE: An extensive analysis published recently found that one of Trump’s self-proclaimed “American heroes,” the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once wrote that he did consider the president an “officer of the United States.”