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I am not sure this is a win politically. It takes a lot of the wind out of the persecution argument he has been making. I am also not sure this is a win legal

I am not sure this is a win politically. It takes a lot of the wind out of the persecution argument he has been making. I am also not sure this is a win legally. Dismissed on a technicality, not on the merits, is the weakest way to win a case. More than likely it is a delay, not a resolution.

skissane 2y ago
If the argument that there is a flaw in the special prosecutor's appointment ultimately ends up being upheld on appeal–and there's no guarantee it will be–there is a solution that may save the case: appoint a new special prosecutor, using a different procedure that answers the constitutional infirmities of the previous appointment. That said, it is unclear whether a new special prosecutor would be allowed to resume the case at the same point, or be forced to re-run earlier parts of it – but I suspect judicial economy would favour resumption over repetition. Also, if it becomes necessary to seek Congressional approval for a new appointment, the current partisan division in Congress may make such approval difficult to achieve. If it is an appointment requiring Senate confirmation, it may be possible for Democrats to push it through on party lines even without any Republican cooperation – but that assumes no conservative Democrats (such as Manchin) defect. But if it also requires appropriations, it may be much harder to get the needed appropriations through the Republican-controlled House. And of course, whichever way the appeal goes, there is the very real risk this delays the case until after the November election, and if he wins, it may lead to the case being suspended on constitutional grounds, and likely eventually dismissed There's also some debate about whether this decision, if upheld on appeal, might also lead to the overturn of Hunter Biden's convictions – https://www.newsweek.com/aileen-cannon-trump-case-dismissal-hunter-biden-1925373 https://www.newsweek.com/aileen-cannon-trump-case-dismissal-... – however, it appears possibly not, since the special counsel in the Biden case is concurrently serving as a Senate-confirmed US attorney; whereas, although Jack Smith never actually held such a role; at the time of his appointment, he did not hold any Senate-confirmed position, since he actually had been an employee of the Government of Kosovo (as a war crimes prosecutor) immediately prior to his special counsel appointment; previously, he had been a DOJ attorney, but never held a Senate-confirmed position.

skissane 2y ago

If the argument that there is a flaw in the special prosecutor's appointment ultimately ends up being upheld on appeal–and there's no guarantee it will be–there is a solution that may save the case: appoint a new special prosecutor, using a different procedure that answers the constitutional infirmities of the previous appointment. That said, it is unclear whether a new special prosecutor would be allowed to resume the case at the same point, or be forced to re-run earlier parts of it – but I suspect judicial economy would favour resumption over repetition. Also, if it becomes necessary to seek Congressional approval for a new appointment, the current partisan division in Congress may make such approval difficult to achieve. If it is an appointment requiring Senate confirmation, it may be possible for Democrats to push it through on party lines even without any Republican cooperation – but that assumes no conservative Democrats (such as Manchin) defect. But if it also requires appropriations, it may be much harder to get the needed appropriations through the Republican-controlled House. And of course, whichever way the appeal goes, there is the very real risk this delays the case until after the November election, and if he wins, it may lead to the case being suspended on constitutional grounds, and likely eventually dismissed There's also some debate about whether this decision, if upheld on appeal, might also lead to the overturn of Hunter Biden's convictions – https://www.newsweek.com/aileen-cannon-trump-case-dismissal-hunter-biden-1925373 https://www.newsweek.com/aileen-cannon-trump-case-dismissal-... – however, it appears possibly not, since the special counsel in the Biden case is concurrently serving as a Senate-confirmed US attorney; whereas, although Jack Smith never actually held such a role; at the time of his appointment, he did not hold any Senate-confirmed position, since he actually had been an employee of the Government of Kosovo (as a war crimes prosecutor) immediately prior to his special counsel appointment; previously, he had been a DOJ attorney, but never held a Senate-confirmed position.