The Weekend Wrap: June 23, 2024

Sitting on the beach, waiting on SCOTUS

Welcome to the Weekend Wrap!

There was not a lot of major news this week. I was monitoring developments from an undisclosed Caribbean location:

Rest assured, I was prepared to toss my Corona aside and leap into action if the Supreme Court decided the presidential immunity case or Fischer, the January 6 obstruction of justice case. But neither happened. Una Corona más, por favor.

There will be more Supreme Court decisions announced this Wednesday, and likely on additional days after that. This typically would be the last week of the term but the Court has about a dozen cases yet to decide, including some real blockbusters. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them extend their decision days into the first week of July, which is unusual but not unprecedented.

Here are the week’s white collar highlights:

Trump Prosecutions

New York State Case - Hush Money/False Business Records

New York’s highest state court rejected Trump’s appeal of the gag order imposed on him by Judge Merchan. The court did not issue an opinion but merely dismissed the appeal by stating it presented “no substantial constitutional question.” Merchan first imposed the gag order in late March, prohibiting Trump from making public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, or court personnel and their families. He later found Trump in contempt ten times for violating the order.

After he was found guilty Trump asked Merchan to lift the gag order, arguing it was no longer necessary. Prosecutors have objected and said the order should remain in place through sentencing and any post-sentencing motions, citing the many threats received by prosecutors and efforts to dox the jurors since Trump was convicted. Merchan has not yet ruled on Trump’s request.

Sentencing is set for July 11. 

Florida Federal Case - Mar-a-Lago Documents

The New York Times reported this week that shortly after judge Aileen M. Cannon was assigned to the Trump prosecution in June 2023, two other federal judges in her district, including the chief judge, urged her to step aside and allow another judge to handle it. Cannon was randomly assigned to the case after the indictment was returned. She was appointed by Trump just before he left office and is relatively inexperienced. The other judges reportedly suggested it would make sense to allow a more seasoned judge to handle the case in Miami, where the courthouse (unlike Cannon’s courthouse in Fort Pierce) already had a secure facility for handling classified documents.

The chief judge also reportedly argued it would look bad for Cannon to keep the case in light of her controversial ruling before the case was indicted allowing Trump to have a special master review the documents seized during the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. (That ruling was quickly and harshly smacked down by a unanimous 11th Circuit panel that included two Trump-appointed judges.)

Obviously, Cannon rejected these suggestions. Since then she has been roundly criticized for the way she has handled the case, which still has no trial date more than a year after it was indicted. This has led to suggestions that she is in over her head, or is in the tank for Trump, or some combination of both. Trump’s primary goal all along has been to delay this trial until after the election, and with Cannon’s help he has succeeded.