Roger Parloff Profile picture
Senior editor, Lawfare. Journalist published in Yahoo Finance, Air Mail, ProPublica, NYT, New York, New Yorker, Fortune, etc. Also rparloff on Threads.
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Mar 17 20 tweets 4 min read
Now that I’ve decompressed, here are some notes about Thursday’s USA v Trump hearing in Fort Pierce before Judge Cannon, which I covered for @lawfare . Some mixed messages but, to me, very strange. ...
1/19 ... She heard 2 motions to dismiss, granting one “without prejudice” hours later. But she also asked questions about a 3d motion, alleging “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Though the last is breathtakingly baseless, she is treating it very seriously ...
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Mar 12 10 tweets 4 min read
To help readers understand where we are on motions to dismiss in USA v. Trump (Mar-a-Lago), I’ve compiled an approximate table. It’s become hard to keep track since some motions are undocketed. ...
1/9 Image ... The table shows motions to dismiss (MtD) or to suppress (MtS) or for bills of particulars (MfBP) that I believe have been filed by Trump (T), DeOliveira (D), or Nauta (N) ...
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Mar 11 7 tweets 2 min read
Trump’s motion to delay the NY criminal case until after SCOTUS’ immunity ruling is based largely on statements the People want to introduce that Trump made in 2018, when he was still President ...
1/7 The People want to show (as consciousness of guilt) that Trump pressured Cohen not to cooperate with prosecutors in 2018. They want to introduce, e.g., 3 Trump tweets & a few other statements, including 2 on Fox & Friends ...
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Mar 4 7 tweets 2 min read
Today, Guy Reffitt, who stormed the Capitol on J6 with a loaded .40 calibre pistol in his belt, asked to be released after serving just 38 mos of an 87-mo sentence based on a DC Cir ruling that came down Friday...
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bit.ly/3v6d0N0 The ruling, USA v Brock, may require resentencings (and possible reductions in sentence) in some cases of J6 defendants convicted of obstructing an official proceeding. (Yes, these convictions are already in doubt due to SCOTUS review in Fischer.) ...
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bit.ly/3T0a6l1
Feb 28 8 tweets 3 min read
As @alanfeuer noted earlier today, Judge Cannon issued two rulings today DENYING defense motions for access to certain classified information. They are interesting documents. ...
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The more interesting is the 2d, which denies Trump’s request to give 2 of his security-cleared attys unprecedented access to a govt “CIPA § 4” motion discussing highly classified info ...
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bit.ly/49wUAnM
Feb 28 7 tweets 2 min read
Weirdly, in an effort to effectuate a policy of extreme open access to court documents, Judge Cannon has inadvertently created a temporary secret docket. ...
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On Feb 6, apparently feeling that the govt was keeping too many (unclassified) documents sealed, she ordered that no more redacted or sealed filings would be accepted without a prior *public* showing of particularized need. ...
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Feb 23 6 tweets 2 min read
It’s hard to overstate the likely delay Trump’s filings last night in the Mar-a-Lago case will cause so long as Judge Cannon remains the presiding judge. ...
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... Trump filed seven motions to dismiss or to suppress evidence—4 public and 3 not yet public. In addition, in the notice below, he seeks discovery & hearings on no fewer than 9 issues allegedly presented. ...

/2bit.ly/3TbV9xH
Feb 14 12 tweets 5 min read
Here’s a short explainer about what—probably—happened at Mon & Tues’s sealed hearings in USA v Trump (MaL).
There were 2 things being considered at these Classified Info Procedures Act (CIPA) § 4 hearings ...
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... It looks like Monday was the more standard § 4 hearing devoted to the 1st issue. These are held when the govt thinks the defense is entitled to access to some, but not all, of the info contained in highly classified docs ...
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Feb 10 6 tweets 2 min read
Quick update on tense dispute between Judge Cannon & govt in USA v Trump (MaL): ln trying to persuade Cannon to reconsider her order last week to unseal identities of >24 “participants” in probe, including some witnesses & their statements ...
1/5 Image ... the govt showed her, under seal & ex parte (not to defense), an FBI 302 report it said (below) showed threat/harassment of a witness in this case. Yesterday, over govt objection, Judge Cannon ordered it turned over to defense *today* tho leaving it sealed from public. ...
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Feb 5 4 tweets 1 min read
In USA v Trump (MaL), Judge Cannon issues schedule for sealed, ex parte hearing 2/12.
9:30am-2pm: def counsel (only) describe their defenses, which classified info they allegedly need
3-5pm: prosecutors (only) argue their motion ...
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bit.ly/3SKbpWo This is not as lop-sided in terms of time allotment as it might look. Remember, on 1/31 prosecutors met with Cannon for 3 hrs alone on same issues.
Attys have also reserved 2/13 if Cannon needs more questions answered. CIPA § 4 is about prosecutors wanting to ...
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Jan 31 24 tweets 9 min read
Some thoughts prompted by some SCOTUS briefs filed so far on whether Trump is disqualified from presidency under § 3 of 14th Am. The Voter-Challengers filed theirs Friday (below) & amici in support have until this evening to file. ...
1/24bit.ly/3OnHQr8 Some who wish § 3 didn’t exist—including some liberals—have argued that no one knows anymore what “insurrection” meant in 1868 or whether J6 met that definition. But they can say that only if they haven’t researched the matter. ...
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Jan 17 4 tweets 2 min read
A Maine Superior Court has REMANDED Sec of State Bellows' determination that Trump was disqualified from the ballot under § 3 of 14th Am as insurrectionist for further proceedings after SCOTUS rules in Colo case. ...
/1 Image Full ruling here:
bit.ly/3O9o8PD
Jan 5 12 tweets 4 min read
There’s a fair chance SCOTUS will grant cert this (Fri) afternoon in the Colo case barring Trump from ballot under § 3 of 14th Am as an "insurrectionist." If it does, look for two things: (1) timing; (2) which issues does SCOTUS want briefed? ...
1/12 Image The Colo Republican Party (CRSCC) wants SCOTUS to address 3 issues, while Trump wants it to address 5, only one of which overlaps. Most interesting will be whether SCOTUS addresses whether Trump “engaged in insurrection”—an issue Trump raises.
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Dec 26, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
As you may know, a serious challenge to Trump’s appearance on the ballot under § 3 of the 14th Am has been gestating in Maine. The ME Sec of State is due to rule this week, with appeals to superior court & then ME’s Supreme Judicial Court...
1/7bit.ly/3tCUfA3 As in other states, this voter-challenge must first overcome state-law hurdles. But adding interest here is that challengers argue that ME’s SecState is *bound* by CO Supreme Court ruling that Trump “engaged in insurrection” due to “collateral estoppel/issue preclusion” ...
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Dec 22, 2023 29 tweets 8 min read
Some belated thoughts on the Colorado Supreme Court’s historic ruling Tuesday that Trump is disqualified from the presidency as an insurrectionist. I’ll start with the dessert and then get to the medicine. ...
/1bit.ly/3vcCJTW ... Right after Jan. 6, when people first started talking about § 3 of the 14th Am, I assumed that when the matter finally reached SCOTUS, Justices Alito & Thomas would write separately—no matter what the rest of the court did—to say that Jan. 6 wasn’t an insurrection. ...
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Dec 14, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
A number of us wondered just how valuable the cooperation of high-ranking Proud Boy Charles Donohoe (below, leading PB Dominic Pezzola with stolen riot shield) really was to the govt, given that it never called him as a witness. Answer: Valuable, apparently ...
/1 ... Two days ago govt asked that Donohoe get just half his sentencing guidelines range—a range that already reflected leniency in light of his early guilty plea. The reduced, reduced range is 35-43 mos. He’s already served ~ 33 mos.

/2bit.ly/41kmoIM
Dec 9, 2023 22 tweets 7 min read
After digesting the DC Circuit’s 68-page unanimous ruling largely upholding, but narrowing, Judge Chutkan’s gag order on Trump, it looks legally very strong, though parts may be harder to enforce than before ...
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bit.ly/46Q5in5 ... The key challenge was this. SCOTUS had said in 1966, after a media circus (“carnival atmosphere”) had tainted a defendant’s conviction, that the trial judge should’ve done more to curb the trial participants’ speech. But it had never defined exactly what. ...
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Dec 7, 2023 15 tweets 3 min read
Some reactions to today’s 2-hr oral argument before the Colo supreme court on whether to keep Trump off ballot as insurrectionist. I thought 2 of the 7 were leaning to disqualify, but the others I couldn't read. (All 7 were appointed by Democratic governors.) ...
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If Trump wins, it won’t be on Judge Wallace’s grounds—that presidents aren’t covered by § 3 of 14th Am. Though I bent over backwards below to avoid calling those claims “absurd,” at least 2 justices were not as charitable ...
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bit.ly/3Ruyv2F
Dec 2, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
You’ve likely read many of the powerful passages from Judge Chutkan’s ruling yesterday holding that Trump enjoys no immunity from criminal prosecution for his acts as president. I’ll just draw attn to one more. ...
1/7bit.ly/3sZl559 To underscore the need to fulfill “our constitutional promise of equal justice under the law,” Chutkan highlights George Washington’s Farewell Address. “His decision to voluntarily leave office after two terms marked an extraordinary divergence ...”
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Dec 1, 2023 13 tweets 4 min read
Some thoughts on today’s DC Circuit ruling, affirming that police officers’ and Congress members’ civil damages suits against Trump for injuries sustained on Jan. 6 are not barred by presidential immunity—at least for now. ...
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bit.ly/3R2MI5j ... Formally the judges expressed no opinion on whether Trump has immunity against *criminal* cases against him—an issue not before them. Still, the ruling cannot but weaken Trump’s audacious claim that he’s immune from criminal prosecution for any & all acts as president ...
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Nov 29, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read
Two nights ago Trump filed 2 voluminous, overlapping motions to compel. They take us deep inside Trump’s paranoiac mind, which his attys are zealously channeling. ...
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... The motions are requests that the court order prosecutors to scour thru millions of pages of docs throughout every corner of the federal govt—DOD, CIA, DHS—looking for nuggets that might help his case, at least when viewed thru the funhouse mirror of advocacy. ...
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