GOP Judges protecting Trump show us what weaponizing the justice system really looks like!
This is judicial corruption at it's worst!
We’ve never seen such a brazen effort by Republican appointed judges to protect the GOP’s political power as we are seeing play out right in front of our eyes with Donald Trump’s three remaining criminal cases. They are not even trying to hide their efforts to help convicted felon Trump win in 2024 by delaying his criminal cases so that their presidential nominee is not convicted of even more felonies before the November election.
The latest example came Wednesday when the Georgia Court of Appeals paused Trump’s criminal case in Fulton County where he faces ten felonies—including a RICO charge—for his illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election in that state. As a reminder, Trump and his co-defendant had made a motion to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her offices from handling the case because of a romantic relationship Willis had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case. In March, the trial judge denied that motion and allowed Trump and his co-defendant’s criminal cases to proceed.
But out of the blue on Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals—which had already agreed to hear an appeal on this issue in October—indefinitely stayed Trump’s criminal case until the appeal can play out. While the order by the Court of Appeals was not signed by a specific judge, the three judges assigned the appeal, Trenton Brown, D.Todd Markle and Benjamin Land were all originally appointed by GOP governors of Georgia.
You have to wonder if the unexpected stay of the case was because Republicans across the nation are outraged Trump was convicted last week in New York of 34 felonies?! Keep in mind the Georgia court of appeals judges run for re-election after their original appointment. What better way to curry support with Republican voters than by being able to say you are the judge who protected the GOP’s beloved Trump?
Then there is Trump’s Espionage case in Florida where Trump is charged with 40 felonies including 32 counts of violating the Espionage Act and various charges for obstructing justice. This case is being presided over by Trump owned/appointed Judge Aileen Cannon --who would be less obvious in her bias in favor of Trump if she wore a MAGA hat on the bench. Even before this case, Cannon showed America that she was 100% on team Trump when she ruled that a special master should be appointed to review the trove of documents the FBI seized at Trump’s home, thus, slowing down the DOJ’s investigation. The conservative 11th Circuit of Appeals swiftly reversed Cannon’s ruling finding that Cannon “improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction.”
After the current Espionage charges versus Trump were filed in June 2023, as “luck” would have it, Cannon was assigned to preside over Trump’s criminal trial. Cannon from the start was slow walking this case. On May 7, she even agreed with Trump’s request to indefinitely postpone the trial date.
Now Cannon appears poised to dismiss the entire case against Trump—or at least ensure an even longer delay. Cannon just announced that during the week of June 21 she will hear oral arguments on whether the entire case versus Trump should be dismissed because Trump claims Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel was legally invalid. This very issue has already been decided in other recent cases and always in favor of the government as Cannon knows. For example, in 2019, in a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was illegally appointed and should have been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. And similar challenges from Trump and other targets of special counsel probes have flopped from coast to coast in recent years.
Not only is Cannon entertaining this baseless motion, but she is allowing lawyers not representing the parties to argue in favor of dismissing the case. This is unheard of! As CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin noted on CNN Wednesday night, what Cannon is doing is “wildly, totally, crazily unusual.” He explained that it’s clear Cannon “is trying to kill this prosecution,” adding, “That’s the only conclusion you can draw.”
It’s obvious Cannon is helping Trump in the hopes he wins in 2024 and will then elevate her to the US Court of Appeals or even the US Supreme Court—where she would fit in perfectly with the GOP partisan justices.
That brings us to the Republican controlled US Supreme Court that is nothing more of an arm of the GOP when it comes to political related cases. And we are seeing that again with the Court delaying Trump’s Jan 6 case where he faces four very serious felonies including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United State for his illegal efforts to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election.
As a reminder, Special Counsel Jack Smith first asked the Supreme Court on December 11, 2023 to hear Trump’s appeal of the trial judge’s ruling he has no immunity for the crimes he committed while in office. At the time, Smith argued this was “an extraordinary case” that demanded swift attention. But the GOP controlled court agreed with Trump’s argument, refusing the direct appeal. As a result, the case went to the US Court of Appeals, which rendered a decision on February 6 that Trump has no immunity.
Despite the obvious urgency of this case given the man who attempted a coup was the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee, the GOP justices delayed for nearly three weeks a decision on whether to hear the appeal. Finally, they took the case on an “expedited” basis and scheduled oral argument for April 25. Yet hear we are nearly seven weeks since that oral argument with no decision—meaning Trump’s Jan 6 case remains on hold.
In glaring contrast, earlier this year when the Supreme Court considered whether to bar Trump from the ballot for engaging in an insurrection in violation of the 14th Amendment—a case of first impression—the court quickly ruled in Trump’s favor in just a little over three weeks after the February 8 oral argument. So when a speedy decision helps Trump, they deliver it—and when a delay helps Trump, they deliver that as well. Again, they are not hiding their partisan agenda.
If you want an even more extreme example of how quickly GOP Justices will move when they sense a chance to help Republicans gain power, check out the infamous Bush v. Gore decision. Just one day after oral arguments in that case, the five Republican Justices joined forces to effectively declare George W. Bush the winner of the 2000 election. As a reminder, three of the current GOP justices worked as lawyers on Bush’s legal team: John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. That means these three know first-hand how quickly the Supreme Court can move.
This is what political weaponization of the justice system really looks like. These judges are political operatives in black robes. And the only remedy to this brazen judicial corruption is to win in 2024—and to win big!
They think they have built an unscalable wall of gerrymandering, voter suppression, billionaire money and corporate media cowardice that will protect them from the voters. I think, and call me Pollyanna if you want, that the voters who are paying attention are pissed and they will be coming for Republicans at all levels. And as November nears, more and more voters will be paying attention, and be more pissed. The MAGA horde is no more than 30% of the electorate. They get close because too may people vote R because they have always voted R or because they believe the bullshit they are fed on Fox. But it only gets them close and that's their plan. Get close. Go on a "the election was stolen", "there was widespread fraud", you know all the usual bullshit, and get Alito and the crooked SCOTUS to hand the WH to Trump. The key is to keep them from getting close. And voting against contraception. 34 guilty verdicts. Increasing abortion restrictions. Constant talk of revenge. This will keep them from getting close. My bet - 20 to 30 seat swing in the House. Loss of 3 - 4 Republican Senate seats. Biden wins by 10+ million.
Dean, I think you meant 2000 being the year of Bush vs Gore instead of 2020. I remember that very well as I was so impressed that Gore conceded so honorably and a TRUE patriot.