Stat Monitor Repairman said:
The supreme court screwed up by kicking the can down the road as long as it has. All these Trump issues should have been dealt with immediately. Conflict delayed is conflict multiplied.
100-years from now historians will probably say that the court had a constitutional duty to act but didn't.
Regardless of how the Trump cases shake out, the court failing to act says a lot.
problem here is that this is actually too political to act fast. Smith already sought cert and scotus said "no." The real problem being that smith and the democrats want a trial during the campaign and a conviction before the election. So smith purposefully framed a "bad" scotus question that would have to result in a "no" answer on presidential immunity and demanded an answer immediately.
Now he has to deal with a DC Cir. merits panel, possible en banc, and finally proper cert where either (1) he'll have to frame the question like a real lawyer seeking cert instead of a corrupt politician trying to get his way or (2) his adversary will get to frame the question (correctly, I would assume).
All of that to say whether the DC Cir. wants to preserve any shred of judicial legitimacy it has, now is the chance. But given the politically obsessive nature of leftists (and their unwavering desire to present themselves as cloaked in judicial legitimacy) we're going to get a lengthy opinion that ties itself in knots to reach the result they "want."
Hence the reason I've said for a while now that scotus goes 6-3 against the government/smith with Roberts voting with the majority for the specific purpose of preventing Clarence Thomas from writing the majority opinion when the time comes.