Judge Tanya Chutkan, overseeing a case against former President Donald Trump for his role on Jan. 6, said that Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling calling special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment illegitimate was not “particularly persuasive,” and signaled the case may move forward despite the election schedule.
Chutkan on Thursday re-arraigned Trump on a new superseding indictment from Smith’s office, made to exclude potentially official acts he made as president involving the attacks following the Supreme Court’s wide presidential immunity decision.
Responding to Trump attorney John Lauro’s suggestion that allowing prosecutors to file a brief containing evidence would put harmful details into the public record “at this very sensitive time,” Chutkan said the law was not concerned with political sensitivities.
“The electoral process and the timing of the election and what needs to happen before . . . is not relevant here. This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” Chutkan said, per Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.
Chutkan went on to ask Trump’s attorneys why they were filing a motion to challenge the legitimacy of Smith’s appointment, citing Clarence Thomas’ dissent in Trump v. United States and Judge Cannon’s ruling, tossing out a case involving Trump’s illegal handling of classified documents. The judge noted that they missed an October deadline to file and that D.C. Circuit precedent held Smith’s appointment was valid.
“You have an opinion by a district judge in another circuit which frankly this court doesn’t find persuasive,” Chutkan reportedly said, per Lawfare’s Roger Parloff.
Chutkan, who also disagreed with Lauro’s characterization that the Supreme Court’s ruling already settled whether conversations between Trump and Pence were official acts, according to MSNBC correspondent Katie Phang, didn’t dismiss the conversation outright, noting that if Trump’s team could persuade the court that the D.C. Circuit precedent didn’t hold, she’d reconsider.
At one point in the hearing, Lauro cracked a joke that “life was almost meaningless” while the case was on hold for months. To which Chutkan fired back, “Enjoy it while it lasts.”