Fox News host Laura Ingraham and two legal experts discuss the potential for the Supreme Court to step in on former President Donald Trump’s New York case following his sentencing.
Legal analyst Sol Wisenberg and Chris Landau, former clerk for two Supreme Court justices, appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the aftermath of Trump’s guilty verdict. (RELATED: ‘Rigged’: Death Of The American Voter | WATCH NOW)
“But in this case, this is extraordinary and historic. Does that then give impetus to the court to step in where they might not have wanted to and in another event?” Ingraham asked.
“I think it would be an incredible long shot if they did,” Wisenberg stated. “I think it would have to be something like you mentioned where Merchan does something in terms of the conditions of release while the appeal is pending that significantly interferes with the election campaign. Then you’ve got a potential constitutional issue. But in addition to not liking political question cases, Laura, they do not like to interfere in state criminal process at the trial or appellate level before it – ”
“Yeah, but Sol what if Merchan is the one who’s doing it?” Ingraham asked. “The problem is, and Chris you can jump [in], Merchan is the one who’s interfering with the process. If let’s say on July 11th they say he can’t campaign outside of the state of New York without explicit permission from his probation officer working in concert with someone maybe in Florida – what if he says that? That’s likely what he is going to say.”
“That would give them a hook,” Wisenberg stated. “I still think it would be a long shot. But that would give them a hook because there you are posing a real conflict between the right of somebody to run a candidate to run its party effectively for president in a state judicial system but, still, it would be a long shot.”
“Of course, it’s a long shot, but this is just an extraordinary unprecedented case in American history,” Landu said. “This is not your normal criminal appeal. I mean, I understand what Sol is saying is right in the run-of-the-mill case. But, I think the Supreme Court of the United States – right now they are grappling with a presidential immunity case. They are very familiar with these issues.”
“Again, they’re the Supreme Court of the United States, everything else is the courts of the state of New York,” Landu continued. “The Supreme Court of the United States is uniquely qualified to recognize the compelling federal interest here. I’m very concerned about the idea of Trump just spending the next six weeks waiting for this sentencing before Judge Merchan as everybody is twiddling their thumbs. I mean, c’mon, right now he’s just sitting there in Judge Merchan’s court with a kick me sign on his back.”
Trump was found guilty by a New York jury of all 34 felony counts brought forward by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The prosecution argued Trump directed his former attorney and convicted liar Michael Cohen to make a nondisclosure payment to porn star Stormy Daniels as well as allegedly agreeing to have the payments reimbursed through falsified business records.
