Court of Appeals to hear arguments on Trump’s election case ban
Prosecutors and lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump will appear before a federal appeals court in Washington on Monday to debate the validity of the silence order imposed on Mr. Trump in the criminal case accusing him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. .
The hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit follows more than a month of back-and-forth discussions about the order. It was imposed by the judge in October to prevent Trump from defaming or threatening prosecutors, potential witnesses or court officials involved in the case.
From the start, the silence order has led to a momentous clash over how to protect people participating in the election interference case from Mr. Trump’s barrage while preserving his rights as he campaigns for president and claims that the persecution is political persecution.
When Judge Tanya S. Chutkan first imposed the order, she tried to thread a needle by preventing Trump from lashing out at people involved in the case — herself excluded — while still allowing him to say what he wanted about what he claims. the partisan and retaliatory nature of the case.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers appealed the order almost as soon as it was imposed, deriding it as “the essence of censorship.”
In court papers, they told the appeals court that the order should be dropped because it violates the First Amendment. They also said it represented an attempt by Judge Chutkan to “micromanage” Trump’s “core political speech” before and during a trial set to begin in March, in the middle of the Republican primary season.
Prosecutors working for Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing Mr. Trump’s federal prosecutions, have pushed back that courts have broad discretion to limit the statements of criminal defendants. They say the gag order was especially necessary because of Mr. Trump’s “almost daily” attacks on Mr. Smith, Judge Chutkan and potential witnesses in the case, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Prosecutors have tried to position themselves as protectors of both the integrity of the judicial process and the people who participate in it, telling the appeals court that Trump’s threats on social media have sometimes had damaging consequences in the real world.
It remains unclear how quickly the appeals court’s three-judge panel will decide whether the ban will be lifted or upheld as the case moves closer to its trial date. The case has been adjourned for about two weeks as the court receives files from the defense and the prosecution.
If the order remains in effect, Judge Chutkan could be faced with an even more difficult issue: how to enforce the order if Mr. Trump violates it. Options available to her include imposing fines or even jailing the former president.
The battle over the federal gag order comes as a state appeals court in New York considers the merits of two related gag orders imposed on Mr. Trump by Judge Arthur F. Engoron, who is overseeing his civil fraud trial in Manhattan.
These orders prohibit Mr. Trump or any of his attorneys from targeting Judge Engoron’s law clerk. The clerk has faced repeated attacks from the former president and his allies, who accused her of being a Democratic partisan.