Judge Chutkan may a creative way to get a 'trial' on the books before election: expert
While the nation sweats out a Supreme Court decision as to whether or not Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution — U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan could still hold hearings or "mini trials" ahead of the November 5 election.
"It's going to be tough if there's a test to get that trial," said CNN legal expert Norm Eisen during a panel appearance on "The Situation Room."
"But what you might get is a mini-trial because if there's a test for Judge Chutkan in D.C. — she's got to apply the evidence to the law."
Since just before last Christmas, Chutkan, who has been tasked to oversee the former president's federal election interference case has shelved it, claiming that she is powerless to proceed in her court until the high court determines the looming question of presidential immunity.
In an opinion and order Chutkan explained how she lacks jurisdiction over the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith after he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to consider Trump's immunity arguments.
"A former President’s absolute immunity would constitute 'an entitlement not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation,' such as discovery obligations," Chutkan writes.
Eisen suspects though that there could be a series of hearings because "she needs to take witnesses."
And there's precedence for smaller hearings that precede the main event of a full-fledged trial.
Says Eisen, "We saw this in the removal of the Georgia 2020 election interference case."
"So that could have an impact, not the same as the trial," he acknowledged. "But we could have that same attention where the courts have been so important in this 2024 political season."
Trump was charged for cooking up a scheme to meddle with the peaceful transfer of power after he was defeated in the 2020 election to then-President Elect Joe Biden. He along with co-conspirators were blamed for spewing mistruths there was widespread "fraud in the election and that he had actually won," ultimately leading to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.