Why don’t we have the Donald Trump immunity ruling yet?
It’s been more than two weeks and still no word from the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel that heard argument Jan. 9. While there’s no single satisfying answer to this pressing question, there are some factors we can identify to help understand what’s at play.
First, the judges know that this opinion needs to be airtight. Whatever they decide will inevitably be appealed, which would mean not only their colleagues on the full D.C. Circuit — in what’s known as en banc review — but also potentially Supreme Court justices reviewing their work. While some observers are eager for a ruling as soon as possible to avoid further delay of Trump’s federal election interference trial, which technically is set to start March 4, whether the opinion takes weeks instead of days isn’t the judges’ greatest concern. That said, the court agreed to consider the case on an expedited timeline — they didn’t do that to take months to issue a ruling, even if they might wish they had more time for this historic case.
While some observers are eager for a ruling as soon as possible to avoid further delay of Trump’s federal election interference trial, which technically is set to start March 4, whether the opinion takes weeks instead of days isn’t the judges’ greatest concern.
There’s also the possibility that even if all three judges on the panel conclude that Trump isn’t immune, they might have different rationales and may think that certain issues deserve more analysis than others. If they can’t incorporate those views into a single opinion, then a judge who agrees on the bottom line but for different reasons might write a concurring opinion that explains their separate views. It’s possible that after a judge initially indicated they wanted to take a separate view, the panel is taking time to synthesize any disagreement into a single, coherent opinion.
Among the multiple aspects of the…
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