Most people know, but for those that don’t, federal appeals, whether before a three-judge panel or the Supreme Court, involve nothing more than extensive briefs and then a hearing where lawyers attempt to sway things to their strengths, with the judges always free to ask questions to challenge the attorneys. It is safe to say that most “hearings” involve judges asking more questions than any oral presentation. But those questions can easily belie which direction the judges believe the case will go, and that is precisely what happened with an 11th Circuit panel hearing the appeal of Judge Canon’s special master order protecting Trump.
Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday, former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne claimed she expected the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to come down hard on U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, “I think that it sounds like after reading the transcript of the hearing in the 11th Circuit that they are going to get rid of the special master and they are going to slam this federal judge who put a wrinkle in the process that was totally unnecessary. And that will speed up the process and allow the government to really dive into those documents.”
“And that will speed up the process and allow the government to really dive into those documents because remember, it is not only — when you look at this case to a prosecutor — it is not just does he have the documents, where they willfully maintained and did he not return them when he was asked to. You also have to have sort of a global outlook on it like, why did he do it?”
If your goal is to prove some nefarious reason, you do. But a crime is complete with him simply having them illegally.
In order to do the prosecution, you kind of want to know that. Is it an ego thing, as somebody leaked from the Justice Department, or in any way did those documents make it into the stream of his financial considerations? Is that why he ended up with these deals in the middle east? Has Jared Kushner seen the documents? Who has touched them, who has seen them, who knows about them, who has used them?”
“The sooner we get rid of the special master process, or we complete it, the sooner we can get to that point and we can move forward with the prosecution.”
Well, those questions were being investigated all along, but yes, the process will speed up when DOJ has all the documents.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact with any concerns.
