Kathianne
08-18-2023, 11:06 AM
Makes sense:
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/donald-trump-georgia-indictment-federal-court-157367af?st=4cq9myaberhzg5r&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
U.S.Donald Trump Is Likely to Try to Move Georgia Case to Federal Court. It Could Work.
Former president is expected to follow his ex-chief of staff’s lead and possibly delay trial
By Jan Wolfe and Byron Tau
Updated Aug. 18, 2023 9:52 am ET
Donald Trump is likely to push for the Georgia charges against him to be heard in federal court, a tactic that could delay the proceeding and, if successful, give the former president a potentially more sympathetic jury.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff and a co-defendant with Trump and 17 others in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s sprawling racketeering case, has already launched a bid to move charges to federal court.
The former president is likely to file a similar request, people familiar with the matter say, sparking a complex jurisdictional fight and raising the possibility that the trial would be held not in the Fulton County Courthouse, but three blocks away in Atlanta’s federal courthouse.
Meadows’s court filing, known as a notice of removal, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones in Atlanta, who set an Aug. 28 hearing on the matter. Meadows argued, as Trump is expected to, that he was acting within the scope of his professional duties during much of the conduct described in the indictment and therefore should be tried in a federal forum.
...
Legal observers say Trump could prevail in moving the case thanks to defendant-friendly rules that courts have developed, allowing federal officials to have their cases heard in federal court.
“Trump has a nonzero chance of forcing his way into federal court,” said Lee Kovarsky, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “The law on officer removal, especially in the 11th Circuit, is very favorable to defendants.”
Willis’s office would still try any parts of the case moved to federal court. And they would do so under state, not federal, law—meaning Trump likely couldn’t pardon himself if he were to be re-elected and convicted.
...
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/donald-trump-georgia-indictment-federal-court-157367af?st=4cq9myaberhzg5r&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
U.S.Donald Trump Is Likely to Try to Move Georgia Case to Federal Court. It Could Work.
Former president is expected to follow his ex-chief of staff’s lead and possibly delay trial
By Jan Wolfe and Byron Tau
Updated Aug. 18, 2023 9:52 am ET
Donald Trump is likely to push for the Georgia charges against him to be heard in federal court, a tactic that could delay the proceeding and, if successful, give the former president a potentially more sympathetic jury.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff and a co-defendant with Trump and 17 others in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s sprawling racketeering case, has already launched a bid to move charges to federal court.
The former president is likely to file a similar request, people familiar with the matter say, sparking a complex jurisdictional fight and raising the possibility that the trial would be held not in the Fulton County Courthouse, but three blocks away in Atlanta’s federal courthouse.
Meadows’s court filing, known as a notice of removal, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones in Atlanta, who set an Aug. 28 hearing on the matter. Meadows argued, as Trump is expected to, that he was acting within the scope of his professional duties during much of the conduct described in the indictment and therefore should be tried in a federal forum.
...
Legal observers say Trump could prevail in moving the case thanks to defendant-friendly rules that courts have developed, allowing federal officials to have their cases heard in federal court.
“Trump has a nonzero chance of forcing his way into federal court,” said Lee Kovarsky, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “The law on officer removal, especially in the 11th Circuit, is very favorable to defendants.”
Willis’s office would still try any parts of the case moved to federal court. And they would do so under state, not federal, law—meaning Trump likely couldn’t pardon himself if he were to be re-elected and convicted.
...