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Why Are Democrats Leaving This To Liz Cheney?
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Why Are Democrats Leaving This To Liz Cheney?

They should join her effort to box Republican Supreme Court justices in, so that Trump faces his January 6 trial before the election.

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Brian Beutler
Apr 24, 2024
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(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Ahead of Thursday’s Supreme Court argument over Donald Trump’s claim to immunity for everything he did while president, the New York Times published a stirring call for the Supreme Court to rule against Trump with haste and in no uncertain terms—so that Trump can’t tee up a new series of dilatory appeals, and the case can go to trial before the election. 

The essay admonishes the justices to “recognize the profoundly negative impact they may have if the court does not resolve these issues quickly and decisively.” It notes that by dragging their feet, they’d be abetting his effort conceal new evidence from the public before the election, and making a mockery of the rule of law.

“It cannot be that a president of the United States can attempt to steal an election and seize power but our justice system is incapable of bringing him to trial before the next election four years later.”

The meaning was clear if implicit: A slow-paced, late-June ruling would inherently suspect, something that should be seen as an act of corruption by the high court. It was well timed and fitting, if a bit too-deferential. Still, it’s the best we could have expected from Democrats, who are already late to the tug-of-war over Trump’s legal calendar. Except Democrats had nothing to do with it.

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