Government

Trump's Gag Order Appeal Chokes Because Lawyer Wasn't Admitted... Here's What Happened

Who woulda thought a Trump lawyer would charge ahead without checking the rules first?

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(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

UPDATE (10/21/23 1:59 p.m.): Having gone through the docket, it seems as though Lauro became a bit of a victim of circumstance here. Updates below.

John Lauro is a member of the D.C. bar and is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Astute readers will note that neither of those convey admission to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is its own entity with its own bar. This is called foreshadowing.

As Donald Trump’s attorney in the D.C. case before Judge Chutkan, Lauro sought to appeal the partial gag order that barred the former president from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and courtroom staff, but did not go so far as to forbid Trump from bashing the potential jury pool or Judge Chutkan herself.

That’s where things went sideways for Lauro:

D’oh. At least he has until November 2 to cure the oversight. UPDATE: It is indeed where things went sideways for Lauro, but not in the way it might appear on the surface. Instead, it went sideways because this letter introduced Lauro to a string of criticism that wasn’t really his fault.]

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Lauro’s response to the embarrassment was to blame the media, which totally tracks.

“All experienced lawyers understand that I am trial counsel and have been admitted before the trial court for over 40 years,” Lauro told Newsweek in a statement on Thursday morning. “As trial counsel, I properly filed a notice of appeal in the trial court, which was transmitted to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and fully docketed.”

[UPDATE: This statement isn’t particularly clear, but when Lauro points to filing the notice in the trial court, he’s focused on that because he never intended to end up on the appellate docket. After looking at both dockets, Lauro filed the notice on October 17 in the trial court. On October 18, that notice became the first item on the appellate docket. At that point, the appellate docket logged a filing attributed to Lauro.

But Lauro never intended to handle the appeal. Unfortunately for him, Trump hired Dean John Sauer to handle the appeal, but Sauer did not enter an appearance for some time after the initial entry. At that point, the clerk’s office fired off a letter to the only lawyer they’re seeing on their docket — Lauro — telling him to get his admission squared away. Had Sauer been there earlier, none of this would’ve happened.

So the appeal did temporarily stumble because Lauro wasn’t admitted… but it doesn’t look like he never actually needed to be.]

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Actually, all experienced lawyers are a little shocked that a litigator wouldn’t just file the paperwork to be admitted in all the local courts. I remember being mortified by having to go to an Eastern District of New York hearing after my Southern District admission had come through but my E.D.N.Y. admission remained pending. And that’s because I was ordered by my boss to go over there — it’s not like I would’ve filed in a court I knew hadn’t admitted me yet of my own volition. A junior associate might not need an appellate admission out of the gate, but an attorney that runs his own firm doing high-stakes federal criminal defense for “40 years” should’ve been admitted to the D.C. Circuit roughly, I dunno, 35 years ago. It’s a four-page form! Just fill it out, preferably before running headlong into another court.

It’s not like the rules are classified documents or anything.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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