(NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
Since the release of the Mueller report, President Donald Trump has unleashed a pyroclastic mountain of obstruction and lawlessness. He’s ignoring subpoenas, he’s suing to stop third parties from honoring subpoenas, and he’s asserting privileges on issues he’s waived privilege over. All of his legal arguments are hot trash. He and his team should eventually lose them all. But, as they say, the wheels of justice move slowly.
Except Judge Amit Mehta apparently didn’t get the memo that we were all supposed to wait patiently while Trump vitiates the rule of law.
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The Trump organization’s ridiculous lawsuit to stop accounting firm Mazars USA from complying with a Congressional subpoena for Trump financial documents landed on Mehta’s desk. And he’s going to hear the case, like, now. From CNN:
Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh the major legal issues raised in President Donald Trump’s challenge of a congressional subpoena for his accounting firm’s records, according to an order issued Thursday — putting the case on an even faster track than it previously looked to be…
Previously, the case was set up so that Mehta, a nominee of President Barack Obama, would consider it in multiple stages, beginning next week — which could have lengthened out the legal fight and held off Congress from getting the records.
The order (you can read it here) is straight fire — adjusted, of course, for how judges talk:
After reviewing the parties’ briefs, and as permitted by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(a)(2), the court intends to “advance the trial on the merits and consolidate it with the hearing” on the motion for preliminary injunction…. The sole question before the court—Is the House Oversight Committee’s issuance of a subpoena to Mazars USA LLP for financial records of President Donald J. Trump and various associated entities a valid exercise of legislative power?—is fully briefed, and the court can discern no benefit from an additional round of legal arguments. Nor is there an obvious need to delay ruling on the merits to allow for development of the factual record.
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Folks, that’s as close as a federal judge is going to come to saying, “F**k it. We’ll do it live.”
Trump’s arguments suck. Instead of letting him drag this out, it sure looks like Metha wants to get this crap out of his face. We need more judges to act with this kind of alacrity when dealing with Donald Trump.
Judge fast-tracks fight over congressional subpoena of Trump financial records [CNN]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.