The Nation's Elie Mystal dished a dose of sanity when former Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore tried to pretend the Supreme Court wasn't already fully aware of the urgency to have Trump's immunity case settled unless Jack Smith spelled it out for them.
March 1, 2024

The Nation's Elie Mystal dished a dose of sanity when former Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore tried to pretend the Supreme Court wasn't already fully aware of the urgency to have Trump's immunity case settled unless Jack Smith spelled it out for them. Mystal made an appearance on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip this Thursday, and was asked about his statement that he believed the right-wing justices on the Supreme Court are hoping for Trump to win.

"Because they're doing everything they can to delay his reckoning so that he has an opportunity to reinstall himself as president of the United States," Mystal responded. "Looking at the Supreme Court's own history, we see that when they want to move fast, they move extremely fast."

"They heard the Colorado immunity case within 51 days of that decision being entered in against Trump. Why? Because it didn't help Trump. Now, with the immunity case in D.C., we see that it's going to take them at least 130 days before they even think about hearing the case. Why? Because in that situation, delay helps Trump."

"And we can go back throughout history," Mystal continued. "We can go back to Bush v. Gore. We can go back to lots of different cases. We can go back to the Texas bounty hunting abortion ban thing. When the Supreme Court wants to move quickly, they move. When they don't, they don't. And it is totally fair to ask why. Why is it that when it helps Trump, they all of a sudden want to slow walk it. They move like an ant. But when it helps -- when it's something that could hurt Trump, they move like a fighting Uruk-Hai."

Parlatore responded by accusing Mystal of making "political talking points," before trying to justify the Supreme Court's reasoning for taking or not taking various cases before blaming Jack Smith for the delay in the immunity case.

"You know, Jack Smith went through great detail saying, oh, it has to be done because it's so important, but he never said why," Palatore replied. "And that's the problem, is that you can't just say it's important because Jack Smith says it's important. You have to actually meet the legal standard, and it's not in any of the papers. So, again, that's some great political argument here that ultimately you've got to look at the actual motion."

Mystal proceeded to take apart Palatore for implying that SCOTUS wasn't already fully aware of the implications of their actions.

MYSTAL: Is the actual argument here that Clarence Thomas and John Roberts don't know why it might be important to figure out if the president has committed crimes and needs to go to jail before the primaries?

Is that really the argument that we're thinking here? Because I don't buy that. I don't believe that the issue here is that the Supreme Court just didn't know how important it might be to get Trump's trial moving and signed, sealed and delivered before the primary process or before the Republican National Convention or certainly before election. That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

PHILLIP: And, Tim, real quick, I mean, why wouldn't the court take that? Yes, but why wouldn't the court take that into consideration?

PARLATORE: Right. Because that is something courts are not allowed to do. They're not supposed to be engaging in election interference and, you know, really trying to figure out you have something to take the decision away from the will of the people.

And that's the reason why Jack Smith didn't offer a reason. He was noticeably silent on that for a reason because what Elie is saying you may be true for what Jack Smith wants but Jack Smith can't write that because it's totally impermissible to say, judge, we need this case done now before the election because if we don't do it before the election, then he might win. That would be totally improper.

And the Supreme Court cannot set their schedule just based on one political party once it's done and the other one doesn't.

PHILLIP: All right, Elie --

MYSTAL: Shouldn't both political parties want to know if -- shouldn't have both political parties want to know if one of the major party nominees is a criminal? Isn't that information that we can just write both out?

PARLATORE: But all of that information has been brought out through the January 6th hearings, through everything else. the voters can decide because they've seen all this so all that information has been out.

Parlatore ignored the fact (which Mystal rightfully pointed out earlier) that Trump wants to bury these cases after the election if heaven forbid we find him back in the White House. Mystal is exactly right about the timing and who they hope they're helping with the delay.

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