We learned of several important legal developments this morning. Some of these developments are related to posts I am working on about the legal jeopardy Trumpland has put itself in. For those of you interested in polling, this week I will be reporting back from a conference I attended last week and, in particular, discuss lessons we have learned so far from 2020. Next week, I plan to begin previewing the elections we’ll be facing this year (2021). Mid-term previews will follow shortly.
Back to today’s news; here are some of the highlights.
The US Supreme Court issued a number of decisions and orders today. The Court dismissed without comment Kelly vs. Pennsylvania, one of the voter “fraud” cases, as moot. It likewise dismissed certiorari in another Pennsylvania case about absentee ballots, DeGraffenreid v. Corman. In the Corman order, unlike Kelly, Thomas dissents with an odd opinion that argues that fraud is very hard to discover and there were so many such cases this year that the Court should take the case. Thomas never suggests what every reader of that dissent does or should know: that the great volume of election cases were frivolous attempts by Trump to overturn the election results with absolutely no evidence — and often no allegation — of fraud. The dissent seems designed towards validating the Big Lie as an honest inquiry into election integrity. One wonders if this isn’t some kind of effort to play down the consequences of the Big Lie to downplay his wife’s involvement in organizing and funding travel for January 6th coup plotters. The thinking goes that if the voter fraud allegations have merit, then those pushing the allegations have less responsibility for the attack on the Capitol.
Also today, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Wood v. Raffensperger. This is the case brought by lawyer Lin Wood – currently being investigated for illegally voting in the Georgia run-offs (he moved to South Carolina after the November election) – regarding the settlement agreement reached by Peach State Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger concerning standards for rejecting absentee ballots. The Court previously rejected petitions for a temporary restraining order and to expedite this case. This case is now done as done can be.
Overall, it was a good day for Democracy Docket’s Marc Elias.
Next, in a filing related to the election — but not an election case itself — Dominion Voting Systems has followed through with its threats and filed a $1.3B lawsuit against Mike Lindell. You will remember Lindell as the “MyPillow Guy” who amplified the Big Lie (and has continued to do so) and urged Trump to declare martial law at a White House meeting shortly before January 6th. Lindell is the latest defendant in a series of multi-billion dollar lawsuits Dominion has brought against Trump lawyers and supporters over the past few weeks. This may be the most serious consequences these folks will deal with over the Big Lie.
If you are curious about why Fox News personalities are so infatuated with Lindell, the complaint provides the answer for you: “In large part, MyPillow’s success is due to a gamble Lindell made on Fox News years ago. Lindell went all in and spent his last $2 million buying airtime for MyPillow ads on Fox News. The bet paid off, yielding $8.19 million in returns. In the first three quarters of 2020, MyPillow spent more than $62 million on television ads, with nearly 99% of it going to cable channels like Fox News. In the first half of 2020, MyPillow ads made up about 37.8% of the advertising revenue for Tucker Carlson’s show and 15% of the advertising revenue for Sean Hannity’s show—making MyPillow one of Fox’s biggest sponsors.” Dominion, Inc. et al. v. MyPillow, Inc. & Michael J. Lindell, Complaint at 6 (footnotes omitted).
Finally, the Supreme Court has refused to block Trump’s tax returns from disclosure to a grand jury. This is something that should be uncontroversial: that the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance can subpoena his tax returns for use in a grand jury criminal investigation in which Trump is a target. It is uncontroversial because if you or I were the subject of a criminal investigation related to our tax reporting behavior, we would be laughed out of court arguing to a judge that prosecutors had no right to access them. Trump is no longer president so he has no argument that an ordinary person would have no.
The Court initially ruled in this matter last July. Despite a dissent from Thomas and Alito on other grounds, all nine Justices rejected Trump’s argument that he had absolute immunity from any subpoena. The matter was sent back to the lower court where Trump objected to the particulars of the subpoena request. Today’s ruling is the last word on this subpoena. Trump’s accountants (Mazars USA) must turn his tax records over to Vance’s office. This, in addition to Vance’s recent hiring of former white-collar and organized crime prosecutor Mark F. Pomerantz suggest we will be seeing an indictment of Trump sometime this year.
Look for a return to polling matters on Wednesday!