D.C. Court to Trump: No, No, and Hell No

 We cannot accept former President Donald Trump's claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the  most fundamental check on executive power."

Part of the ruling by the panel of three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of The United States vs. Donald J. Trump 

That line was a small part of the decision written by judges Florence Pan, J. Michelle Childs, and Karen Henderson which was released yesterday. To put it simply it was a 57 page letter to Donald Trump which told him, no, no, and hell no. 

No, you can't have one team of lawyers tell congress a second impeachment isn't necessary because the client, since he is no longer President, should be tried in the federal court system--then have a second team tell the courts you can't be charged because you were never impeached and convicted by that same congress. No, being impeached then tried for the same crimes doesn't constitute double jeopardy. And hell no, you can't have political opponents assassinated then walk away from it if you aren't impeached and convicted in the Senate first.

The decision wasn't surprising. Hell, even Dick Nixon knew these arguments were bullshit. It's why he got down on his knees and thanked God and Gerald R. Ford for his Presidential pardon. 

Trump's people have already said they will appeal. They can ask for the entire court of appeals to review the decision, although in all truth they've probably already read it and given the three judge panel a thumbs up. or, they can go to the Supreme Court. If they do they will have to hurry. the Circuit Court gave them until Monday to file the paperwork with SCOTUS.

At that point the Justices can either agree to hear the appeal, or refuse to which would send it straight back into the court of Tanya Chutan. Liberal media, "analysts," are hopeful the Supremes will do just that. They have all sorts of plausible legal reasons for that sort of outcome. Given the presence of Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and others on the bench that optimism might be misplaced. The court doesn't even have to decide the issue. If they agree to hear the appeal they can sit on it for as long as they want--say this December, after the election--before delivering a decision. That gives Trump what he wants, especially if he wins, and the Justices can avoid all those accusations of corruption and malfeasance. 

Meanwhile in the House of Representatives republicans dove head first into a big pool of chaos and humiliation. After coming to the realization they couldn't pin anything on Joe Biden they came to the decision they would impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. The GOP controlled impeachment committee was a bit vague on the whole high crimes and misdemeanor thing. The Secretary's main crime seems to have been he works for the current President. Well, that and, by God we're going to impeach somebody and your name happened to come up.

Yesterday the vote to impeach Mayorkas failed. Later republicans tried to separate aid to Israel from border security and aid to Ukraine. That effort also went down in flames. 

Indeed the only thing House republicans accomplished yesterday is proving they aren't a political party in the majority, but rather a prison riot in progress.  

Next up, for another of Trump's legal teams anyway, is a stop at the Supreme Court tomorrow to deliver oral arguments in the Colorado ballot appeal. Odds are that decision will come quickly and in his favor. After all the man hasn't been convicted of insurrection, at least not yet. In fact, even at this late date as he faces 91 criminal counts, he hasn't been convicted of any felonies. 

That doesn't mean he won't be. Thanks to the D.C. Circuit Court, for the first time in his life, Donald John Trump does appear on the verge of coming down with a serious case of, as it's known in some professions, CTD. Or, in layman's terms, Circling the Drain.   

We can only hope.

2-7-24