Thread by @MuellerSheWrote

BREAKING: ORDER from the 2nd circuit in E Jean Carroll I. This is the case where they’re trying to decide whether Donald was acting within his role as president when he defamed E Jean during that press conference. I’ll break this down in layman’s terms. 1/

A long time ago, Barr’ DOJ said “you can’t sue him for shit he says when he’s president, so we are filing to substitute ourselves in for Donald (the Westfall Act says we can) because he was just doing president stuff when he defamed E Jean.” 2/

Judge Kaplan DENIED that DoJ motion to substitute (which would effectively end the case, by the way.) DoJ APPEALED to the 2nd circuit court of appeals. 2nd circuit VACATED judge Kaplan’s ruling and sent the question over to the DC Circuit where it sat for a LONG time. 3/

The 2nd circuit sent it to DC because this has to do with DC laws and presidents and stuff, and because it’s a REALLY important question. Last week, DC said “this isn’t for us to decide. It’s up to the FACTFINDER. 4/

Basically - there needs to be further proceedings to determine whether h was acting within the scope of his job because we’re not gonna say that ALL government officials are ALWAYS acting within the scope of their jobs when they give press conferences. 5/

That kicked it back to the 2nd circuit, and that’s where we are today. The 2nd circuit says “Since we vacated the OG Kaplan decision, and DC wants Kaplan to figure it out, we REMAND it back to Kaplan.” 6/

I *think* this means that it’s now up to the judge who originally decided that trump can’t be subbed by DoJ because he wasn’t acting within the scope of his employment. Which means Carol I could go forward. Carol II starts April 25th. What do I think will happen? 7/

Either Kaplan decides Donald wasn’t acting within the scope of his job and consolidates Carroll I and Carroll II to both begin April 25th. OR, perhaps the parties decide that Carroll I is kind of moot because Donald REPEATED his demotion AFTER he left office (Carroll II). 8/

Here’s the full filing. It’s really well written and easy to understand. Give it a read. END/ documentcloud.org/documents/2378…

PS: Another thing to consider: DC circuit said the question of whether Donald was acting within the scope of his job as president is up to the FACTFINDER - which is the JURY and NOT Kaplan. So maybe that means Kaplan will have to present both cases to the jury April 25.