US judge Aileen Cannon’s delays in setting a schedule means prosecutors are unlikely to get their wish for a trial in July

The prospects of Donald Trump going to trial in July on charges of retaining national security documents, as suggested by special counsel prosecutors, are rapidly diminishing, with the judge overseeing the case yet to issue a schedule weeks after she was presented with the potential options.

The US district judge Aileen Cannon received proposed trial start dates from Trump and the special counsel Jack Smith more than a month ago in advance of a hearing ostensibly to settle the matter in Fort Pierce, Florida, but she has still not decided when the proceeding will begin.

As a result, Trump has been able to avoid filing certain pre-trial motions that have to be completed before the case can proceed to trial, playing into his strategy of trying to delay the case as much as possible before the 2024 election in November.

  • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Wow i wonder how far the judge can go before someone has to step in. Is there even a mechanism to remove an incompetent judge, or have we been completely relying on judges to not be corrupt on a pinky swear this whole time? Ah well, one more pitch fork on the pile.

    • DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      They are SUPPOSED to be bound by a code of ethics (except for the USSC, which is crazy), but Canon is a wildly unqualified lackey, so she apparently either doesn’t know or does just doesn’t care

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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      3 months ago

      There is, but it’s rarely used. Judges in lower courts can be removed from a case by an appeals court, and any judge can be impeached and removed from the role entirely. But it takes something pretty extreme for it do actually happen.

      • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        How extreme are we talking about here? They already get kick backs, so is there like a number they have to stay under? Is assisting by stalling long enough to reach the power to aquit themselves seems on the same level as stalling out a case so it goes over the statue of limitations to aquit the guilty

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      In FL, 3 very bad rulings/orders/whatever can cause a judge to be thrown off a case if determined to be necessary by the other judges in that district.

      Cannon already has 2 strikes in this case where the district has made her reverse bad decisions. I think she will eventually be thrown off the case, but she’s already won. The goal was to delay the trial until after the election. Mission accomplished.