Jonathan Turley Profile picture
Feb 6, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
In a 57-page opinion, the D.C. Circuit has rejected, as expected, former President Donald Trump's sweeping immunity claim. Many of us anticipated this result. Here is the opinion storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
...Notably, the panel rejected the claim of many critics that there should be no appellate review. However, it categorically rejects the claim of Trump that he is entitled to immunity as a private citizen...
...The question is now whether Smith will again seek to curtail the time or options for Trump in appealing this decision. Trump has weeks to file for a full en banc review. He was previously unsuccessful in that effort with the Supreme Court.
...Crunching the numbers, Trump can seek corrections in the short term but, even without a correction to the opinion, he has 45 days to seek an en banc where the government is a party. He then has 90 days after the rejected of any en banc decision. ...
...So, even without factoring in review time for the circuit, Trump could extend this process 135 days absent a successful move to expedite. The 90 day period alone would put a petition into May. Any rejection of appeals, without an expedited calendar, puts this into the summer...
...That is without delays or a successful grant on by the D.C. Circuit (unlikely) or the Supreme Court (uncertain). After that appellate line is tied off, the parties would have to return to the trial court to resume the pre-trial work, which could take months. That puts the trial very close to the election and would raise obvious concerns given the long-standing DOJ policy to avoid trials with a few months of an election.
...While Smith will likely try again to expedite, the question is why the Supreme Court would suddenly see a need to curtail the time or process when it previously denied such efforts. There is no longer a scheduled trial on the docket and Smith is the prevailing party. That is not ideal for a motion to expedite further appeals.
...Notably, in a footnote at the end of the decision, the panel declines look at the merits of the threshold challenge that "the appointment of Special Counsel Smith is invalid because (1) no statute authorizes the position Smith occupies and (2) the Special Counsel is a principal officer who must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate."

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More from @JonathanTurley

Jul 27
Rep. Jason Crow just went on Fox Sunday and insisted that the lack of Russian collusion is nothing new since members knew about it for years. That is a particularly telling and franking damning statement since figures like Adam Schiff were out spreading the false collusion claims
...Now Sen. Schiff even insisted that he had evidence of collusion after the allegation was rejected by the Special Counsel -- evidence that he never produced and does not appear to exist. jonathanturley.org/2025/07/27/the…
...The mantra in the media and the Democratic Party that there is nothing to see here is predictable but hardly credible.
Read 4 tweets
Jul 23
The media eagerly picked up the Morning Call story of the “disappearing” of an immigrant. As the story went viral, a few people decided actually to look into the case and found that it not only made no sense but there no evidence of such a deportation...jonathanturley.org/2025/07/23/the…
...The story had the same feel as the widely reported whipping of migrants by border agents. The media went into a frenzy over a false story accusing mounted officers of whipping undocumented migrants near Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2021...
...In the end, it does not matter that the story may be false. After all, you can get a Pulitzer prize for a debunked story of Russian collusion funded by a political campaign.  It fits the preferred narrative of many in the media.
Read 4 tweets
Jul 10
Gov. Tim Walz is continuing to express outrage this week over SNAP cuts in Minnesota. It is worth noting that the $430,000 he spent on prepping for his recent testimony would have paid for roughly 86,000 such meals for Minnesotan citizens instead of law firms and advisers...
...I criticized politicians like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for spending similar amounts to prep for hearings. Officials should be able to answer questions on their record without spending lavishly on close-ups, like pampered, publicly funded Norma Desmonds. jonathanturley.org/2025/03/05/all…
...By the way, the figure is based on one estimate of SNAP meals costing roughly $5 a day for Minnesota residents. If accurate, that is actually three meals or a total of 258,000 individual meals...
Read 4 tweets
Jul 8
The Supreme Court just delivered a major victory for the Trump Administration in lifting an injunction on layoffs as part of his downsizing of government. I was previously critical of Judge Illston’s order... jonathanturley.org/2025/06/03/rif…
...I previously criticized the judge for a decision that was, in my view, "well outside of the navigational beacons for the courts under the separation of powers." The Court has now reversed not only her decision but the Ninth Circuit...
...The Ninth Circuit declared that "The executive order at issue here far exceeds the president's supervisory powers under the Constitution" in what it described as "an unprecedented attempted restructuring of the federal government and its operations." However, the Court will allow the layoffs to continue, at least for now, as the case works it way through the legal system...
Read 4 tweets
Jun 27
...We have our second case. It is another major one: Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf…
It is 6-3 in upholding the constitutionality of the board that issued rules for the covering of preventative case. This avoids a massive potential disruption on covered health care services.
...Justice Thomas dissents with Alito and Gorsuch. Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett join with the liberal justices...
Read 17 tweets
Jun 27
Buckle up . . . Just three boxes. That does not suggest long opinions with six remaining cases...
...here we go...
...we have birthright citizenship. It is written by Barrett. supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf…
Read 14 tweets

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