Fig Leaves
Salvaging SCOTUS Impartiality?
Two pieces of news on Trump’s criminal cases:
John Roberts along with the women of SCOTUS denied Trump’s request to delay his sentencing in the “hush money” case.
A federal appeals court ruled that Merrick Garland can release the Jan 6 volume of Jack Smith’s report with a 3-day delay to allow Trump to further appeal to SCOTUS.
The real question is whether Roberts is trying to use action 1 as a fig leaf of impartiality to justify ruling in favor of Trump’s appeal on action 2. In other words, Roberts is OK with letting you see Trump scolded by Judge Merchan for the not-going-to-be-punished crimes of business fraud, but unwilling to let you see the full evidence on the far more serious insurrection charges.
As a sideshow, we got to see yet another occurrence of Alito’s transparent fealty to Trump with his refusal to recuse himself on action 1 despite a norm-defying phone call on the previous day with Trump, with its own less-than-credible fig leaf of it being a job recommendation for a former clerk.
Holding my breath on the ultimate resolution of action 2. But if SCOTUS breaks for Trump on the report’s release, the fig leaves will fall. Even if Coney Barrett is the one who joins Alito and company in supporting Trump’s appeal to withhold releasing the Jan 6 report, the last shred of credibility for SCOTUS will gone, as well Roberts’ reputation.
Action 1 will not be concluded on Friday. Mixing metaphors, Trump is still able to get another bite at the apple and appeal the sentence in the "hush money" case post-conviction. It is a very tiny fig leaf indeed...
Thanks for the clarity.