Donald J. Trump is facing the possibility of being put on trial in four different cities next year, all before Memorial Day and in the midst of his presidential campaign. However, legal experts and insiders predict that it will be nearly impossible to pull off. Delays, court backlogs, and legal skirmishes are expected to cause significant obstacles for the prosecutors seeking to try Trump. Some experts even believe that none of the trials will begin before the election.
Putting a defendant on trial in multiple cities simultaneously is virtually unheard of, especially for someone who is also a leading contender for the presidency. The extensive legal arguments and lengthy trials themselves make it logistically challenging to fit all of Trump’s cases into the calendar. While each case appears to be strong, there are limits to how much a defendant can handle at one time.
Any delay in the trials would be a victory for Trump, as it would give him more time to campaign and potentially undermine the cases against him. If the trials are dragged out into 2025 or beyond, Trump could potentially seek a self-pardon or order his Justice Department to shut down the federal cases. While he cannot control the state prosecutions, it is widely believed that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted, which likely applies to state cases as well.
To effectively manage Trump’s defense preparation without unnecessary delays, the judges overseeing the four cases may need to coordinate with each other. Ethical rules permit judges to confer with one another to efficiently administer the business of their courts. While Trump’s court schedule looks to be as crowded as his campaign calendar, it remains uncertain how the trials will play out and which cases will take precedence.
The proposed trial dates for Trump vary across the different jurisdictions. A federal special counsel has proposed January 2, 2023, as a trial date for the Washington case. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney wants the trial to begin on March 4, 2023. Trump is also scheduled for trials in New York on March 25, 2023, and in Florida on May 20, 2023. It is unclear how these dates will ultimately be determined and if any adjustments will be made.
While the New York and Florida cases were unveiled earlier, some experts argue that the election-related cases in Georgia and Washington should take precedence due to their significance to American democracy. The Manhattan district attorney has stated that he would not necessarily insist on being the first to put Trump on trial. Ultimately, the judges will have to determine the order of the trials.
The challenges in scheduling and managing these trials make it unlikely that all four will take place before the election. The sheer volume of material to review, the number of co-defendants, and the potential for appeals and delays suggest that the trials could extend beyond next year. It is exceedingly rare for a criminal defendant to face multiple trials in such a concentrated period of time, and these circumstances present unique logistical and legal challenges.
The outcome of these trials could have significant implications for Trump’s presidential campaign and the future of American politics. Voters may want to know whether Trump was convicted of subverting the will of the people in the previous election before casting their votes in the next one. However, it remains to be seen how the trials will unfold and whether they will significantly impact Trump’s political aspirations.
Original Story at www.nytimes.com – 2023-08-18 15:15:26
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