Former President Donald J. Trump vowed to immediately challenge the March 4 start date for his criminal trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, raising questions about whether and how he might try to work out the timing of the case to set.
“I am appealing!” Trump wrote on social media shortly after Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued her order Monday.
But despite complaints about the date, Trump’s attorney John Lauro said in court that the defense team would abide by its decision “as we must.” Mr Lauro had proposed that the trial should begin in April 2026, citing the amount of evidence lawyers had to study, while prosecutors had suggested starting in January.
Here’s a closer look.
Why is March 4 difficult?
The date falls in the middle of an already crowded calendar for Mr. Trump, who faces a series of criminal and civil lawsuits as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
In particular, as Mr. Trump pointed out, the day after the trial was set to begin is Super Tuesday, when voters in more than a dozen states will cast their primary ballots. But regardless of the negative headlines that will emerge after the trial starts, his ability to campaign in the primary in the weeks that follow will be more likely to be affected than Super Tuesday.
That’s because Mr. Trump will not be required to attend until the opening statements begin. Even though the trial begins on March 4, a jury must first be selected — and interviewing potential jurors as part of an effort to assemble an impartial panel on such a high-profile and politically charged issue will almost certainly dawn. to last.
Can test calendars be appealed at all?
Usually not, but there are complications.
First, Mr. Lauro could file a motion asking Judge Chutkan to reconsider the timing and elaborate his argument that March 4 does not give the defense enough time to adequately prepare.
But if she refuses to change this, decisions by a Federal District Court judge on a future trial calendar are typically not considered subject to immediate appeal. If an alleged problem can be remedied by later overturning a guilty verdict, an appeal raising this issue must wait until after the trial.
If the former president is convicted, Mr. Lauro appears to lay the groundwork for Mr. Trump to argue on a post-trial appeal that the start date violates his constitutional right to meaningful legal representation. Mr Lauro told the judge on Monday that the defense team would not be able to adequately represent Mr Trump if it had to be prepared before March 4. Such a trial date would deprive his client of the opportunity to receive effective legal counsel. , he added.
But Trump has another way of asking a higher court to review the calendar before the trial begins. It’s called a petition for a mandamus summons, and while it’s not technically considered an appeal, legal experts say, it’s very similar.
What is a mandamus command?
It is an injunction to a lower court judge imposing certain measures. It functions as a safety valve, essentially allowing early calls. It is reserved for extraordinary situations where a judge has made a mistake that will cause irreparable harm to a defendant, so that the normal process of waiting until after a guilty verdict to raise the issue on appeal cannot resolve the issue.
While Mr. Trump would normally have to wait until after the trial to ask a higher court to review Judge Chutkan’s calendar decision, his defense team could theoretically try to short-circuit that trial by filing a mandamus petition with the Court. serve. of appeals to the District of Columbia Circuit — or even directly to the Supreme Court.
Is it easy to win such an order?
No. In general, a mandamus request is likely to be rejected, legal experts say. Higher courts, reluctant to disrupt the ordinary course of justice, have set a high bar before intervening in this way.
For example, in a 1999 ruling, the D.C. Circuit said it would not even consider a mandamus petition, based on the argument that the judge made a manifestly wrong decision, since the issue could later be addressed through an ordinary appeal.
“As we have seen, any error – even an obvious one – can be corrected on appeal without irreparable harm,” the judges wrote.
In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court said that the right to compensation must be “clear and indisputable” and that there must be no other adequate means of obtaining it. And even then, a higher court still has the discretion to refuse to issue such an order if it nonetheless believes that intervention would not be appropriate in the circumstances.
Does Trump have reasons for a mandamus petition?
On its own, Mr. Lauro’s objection — that March 4 will not give Mr Trump’s lawyers enough time to prepare — would almost certainly fall short as a reason for a higher court to intervene early, according to Paul F. Rothstein . Professor of law at Georgetown University and specialist in criminal litigation.
But Prof. Rothstein said it’s harder to predict what would happen if Mr Trump’s team also raised an objection the former president has made in his public remarks: that the trial date would distort the election. There is a stronger case for a claim of irreparable damage, as several primaries will be over by the time a verdict is reached.
Still, there is little precedent to guide a higher court’s decision on whether the effect of a trial date on elections is sufficient to warrant early intervention. And even if it does, he says, it’s also uncertain where the higher court might turn to ask whether the public interest is better served by postponing a trial or allowing it to proceed so that voters can vote as quickly as possible. be aware of the criminality of a key candidate.
“Like so many things with these unprecedented questions that the Trump cases raise, the law has no definitive answer,” Prof. Rothstein said.
