Lisa Rubin Profile picture
Apr 29 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
NEW: You might have heard folks say, in the wake of the Supreme Court immunity argument, that sending this case down for the district court to parse what is official versus personal could substantially prolong the time to trial. Enter Ex. A: Image
This is an order entered tonight in three civil cases against Trump for his role in 1/6; in those cases, the D.C. Circuit reaffirmed former presidents are entitled to civil immunity for acts even on the "outer perimeter" of their official duties.
But they held Trump had not yet shown his entitlement to such immunity and would instead have a chance to prove in the lower court that "his alleged actions in the runup to and on January 6 were taken in his official capacity as President." Image
That opinion was handed down on December 1, 2023. And now, in the last days of April, Judge Amit Mehta, the district court judge to whom the case has been assigned, has allowed the parties to conduct "immunity-related discovery" through September 11, 2024.
Now think about the criminal case before Judge Chutkan: In a world where the Supreme Court similarly decides there must be further lower court proceedings to determine whether Trump can mount an immunity defense, can that case be tried before 2025? Increasingly, I think not--and that might be the only win Trump wants or needs.

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More from @lawofruby

Oct 22
NEW: Today’s court order requiring Rudy Giuliani to place most of his possessions, cash, and even his NYC apartment in receivership for the two GA election workers to whom he owes $148 million reminds us what the Big Lie has cost its most avid mouthpieces. 1/
But while Rudy isn’t even allowed to keep his TV, a signed Reggie Jackson photo, or his grandfather’s watch, Trump remains locked in an airtight battle for a second presidential term, during which, if he wins, his legal problems will either disappear or at least recede. 2/
When Trump talks about the 1/6 defendants, he loves to compare their plights with those of those arrested during the summer of 2020 after George Floyd’s death. The conduct at issue is dissimilar—and distracts from the real issue. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Oct 16
NEW: Georgia’s hand count rule cannot be implemented for the election, rules Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
For McBurney, the timing was crucial. He acknowledges that a hand count of ballots could be “consistent with the
SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections.” But when the rule is scheduled to be implemented a mere fortnight before the election? 2/
That’s a recipe for chaos, McBurney holds, especially where, as here, the “eleventh and one half hour” implementation put county election boards in the position of having to put the rule into practice without guidelines or training from the GA Secretary of State. 3/
Read 11 tweets
Oct 15
NEW: I am watching a live hearing about the lawfulness of yet another Georgia Elections Board rule, this one requiring hand counts of ballots prior to certification. And Judge Robert McBurney wants to know why, given a “robust record of chaos” caused thus far, he shouldn’t just enjoin it. 1/
Because Fulton County Superior Court proceedings are live-streamed, come watch with me here: .youtube.com/live/-z0N1dHym…
So far, McBurney is approaching this in what seems like a measured way: He acknowledges that the rule does not require the counting of votes, but solely the hand counting of ballots to ensure the number of ballots cast, as tabulated electronically, matches a hand count. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Oct 9
NEW: While Hurricane Milton approaches, voting rights groups in GA and FL are in two separate federal courts this afternoon fighting for emergency extensions of Monday's voter registration deadline for those impacted by Hurricane Helene and/or preparing for Milton. Stay tuned.
An update: The judge in Florida, Robert Hinkle, just denied the effort to extend the deadline there. More to come.
All that's been docketed is this one-page denial without any explanation: Image
Read 5 tweets
Sep 30
Look beyond the result of today’s GA abortion decision, and you can see Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney stake out a broader, methodological position, especially in the footnotes. 1/
McBurney makes plain what many are afraid to say: that “the meaning of the Constitution is no more fixed than is the composition of the majority in the highest courts of the land — especially when formerly bedrock principles such as stare decisis appear to be on the wane.” 2/
He then explains “the interpretive challenge for the courts is in understanding what is encompassed in the concept of liberty” in GA’s constitution. And that is a problematic exercise, he insists, if one relies on textualism or originalism. 3/
Read 22 tweets
Sep 24
NEW: Judge Tanya Chutkan has now granted the Special Counsel's request to file a 180-page brief defending its superseding indictment as compliant with the Supreme Court's immunity ruling. But don't get your reading corner ready just yet. 1/
Since last year, the federal election interference case has been governed by a protective order that dictates how sensitive discovery materials must be used. And under that order, virtually any material that was not already public or obtained by the defense on its own, not through discovery, is covered. 2/
That order makes plain how filings with sensitive material must be handled in any public filing: Either all sensitive information is redacted, and the parties agree as to those redactions, or . . . .3/ Image
Read 5 tweets

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