Skip to main content
Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — January 4, 2024

By January 4, 2024No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Mark Meadows seeks to move Georgia election case to federal court, citing role as Trump’s Chief of Staff

  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Mark Meadows asks full appeals court to hear Fulton removal case: “Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is requesting that a federal appeals court reconsider his twice-rejected bid to move his Fulton County election interference case to federal court. In a court filing late Tuesday, the onetime Republican congressman requested a rare ‘en banc’ hearing before all 12 judges on the conservative 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ‘A White House chief of staff facing a local prosecutor’s indictment based on actions taken in the west wing should not be a close call,’ his legal team argued. ‘No chief of staff has ever had to defend his west wing actions in state court.’”
  • USA Today: Mark Meadows asks appeals court to reconsider moving his Georgia election racketeering case to federal court: “Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asked an appeals court Tuesday to reconsider its his push to move his Georgia criminal election racketeering trial to federal court. Meadows is among more than a dozen people charged with former President Donald Trump in a sprawling conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows and four other co-defendants have asked to move their state cases to federal court by arguing they were acting as federal officials when they allegedly committed their crimes. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones rejected Meadows’ request in September, and a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, ruling that prosecuting a former official in state court doesn’t interfere with a current presidential administration.”
  • The Messenger: Trump White House Chief of Staff Hires Top Appellate Lawyer to Battle Georgia Charge: “Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday added more firepower to his legal team in his battle against criminal charges in Georgia by hiring the former U.S. solicitor general from the George W. Bush administration. In a filing to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Meadows announced he’s hired Paul Clement, who represented the United States in matters before the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2008, as well as partner Erin Murphy and associate Zachary Lustbader.”

Trump continues to assert immunity in attempts to dismiss 2020 election subversion charges

  • Newsweek: Donald Trump Rails at Amicus Brief Against His Immunity Appeal: “In their final written request to a federal appeals court to grant Donald Trump immunity in the Washington, D.C., election case, the former president’s lawyers have fired back at the nonprofit watchdog American Oversight’s attempts to get the case moving forward. On December 29, American Oversight filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in U.S. v. Donald Trump, the criminal case in which the former president is charged with attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. An amicus brief is a legal document given by a person or organization who’s not directly involved in the case to a court of law containing advice or information relating to the case. Trump, who was hit with four indictments over a five-month span in 2023, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the cases against him are part of a political “witch hunt” led by Democrats.”
  • Washington Post: Trump lawyers’ doozy of a filing on voter fraud: “Prosecutors have repeatedly described Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in 2020 as effectively manufacturing a pretense for fraudulently overturning the election. Special counsel Jack Smith said in his indictment of the former president that fake electors were meant to ‘create a fake controversy’ that could be used on Jan. 6, 2021. In a new filing, Trump’s legal team appears bent on helping prosecutors make that case. Tucked into Trump’s latest legal brief in his appeal for presidential immunity in his federal Jan. 6 case is a remarkable citation. Trump’s lawyers refer to a social media post from Trump the same day of the filing — Tuesday — which links to a report from an unnamed source running down various voter-fraud claims.”
  • USA Today: Donald Trump urges federal appeals court to toss charges he tried to overturn 2020 election: “Donald Trump argued that a president can never be prosecuted for his actions in office and urged a federal appeals court in a filing Tuesday to throw out charges he tried to overturn the 2020 election. Trump contends he is immune to the charges because he was president in the weeks between the election and the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, when he allegedly took part in a multi-state conspiracy to defraud voters by thwarting Joe Biden’s election victory. He also argues that when the Senate acquitted him of impeachment, lawmakers also blocked a criminal prosecution. ‘President Trump has immunity from prosecution for his official acts,’ Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, wrote. ‘The Constitution’s text, history, and policy support this conclusion.’”
  • Newsweek: Donald Trump’s ‘Bizarre’ Court Filing Raises Eyebrows: “Lawyers for Donald Trump have issued a request to the federal appeals court that is deciding whether the former president should have presidential immunity to charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican is appealing a decision made in December by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing his federal election interference trial, that he does not have ‘absolute immunity’ from decisions made while he was in the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the four-count indictment, filed in August, which accuses him of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.”
  • Daily Beast: Jack Smith Keeps Telegraphing Some Seriously Scandalous Trump Crimes: “As Special Counsel Jack Smith makes the case that former President Donald Trump shouldn’t have vast immunity to commit crimes, Smith has compiled a very curious list of theoretical misdeeds that seem to telegraph potential bombshells at his upcoming D.C. trial. Accepting a bribe, ordering an FBI director to fake evidence against a political foe, ordering the military to murder critics, and even selling nuclear secrets to a foreign enemy—these are the particular and peculiar crimes that prosecutors say Trump could get away with if he succeeds in arguing that presidential immunity gives him king-like powers to do as he pleases from the White House. Again, theoretically, of course.”

In the States 

GEORGIA: Voter challenges in Georgia before 2021 runoff didn’t violate Voting Rights Act, judge says

  • New York Times: Conservative Group Wins Legal Victory Over 2020 Voting Challenges in Georgia: “A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a conservative group’s efforts to challenge the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in the Senate runoff elections in Georgia in early 2021 did not violate the Voting Rights Act under a clause outlawing voter suppression. In a 145-page opinion, the judge, Steve C. Jones of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, wrote that the court ‘maintains its prior concerns’ regarding how the group, True the Vote, sought to challenge voters’ eligibility. But he said that Fair Fight, the liberal voting rights group that brought the lawsuit against True the Vote, had failed to show that the efforts were illegal.”
  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Heated election year might bring more changes to Georgia voting laws: “In this contentious presidential election year, Georgia legislators might change the rules again. Lawmakers plan to consider an array of proposals — a mix driven by Republican angst over the 2020 election, power struggles within the GOP, and a desire to make elections more trustworthy to their voters. Four years since Republican Donald Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden, conservatives’ lack of confidence in Georgia’s elections might continue to lead to new laws. A long list of potential election measures could be debated in the Republican-run General Assembly, such as allowing the State Election Board to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, ending no-excuse absentee voting, and verifying computer codes printed on ballots.”

WISCONSIN: Judge rules on standards for addresses on absentee ballots that ensure that votes aren’t unfairly rejected due to different rules across counties

  • Courthouse News Service: Wisconsin judge shakes up absentee ballot witness address requirements: “ A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday issued two decisions making broad changes to how state law and elections rules require a witness to an absentee ballot to provide their address in order for the ballot to be counted. In one lawsuit from the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen said rejecting ballots based on a failure to meet the witness address requirements violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In another lawsuit from RISE — a group that in part advocates for student debt relief and youth get-out-the-vote efforts — the judge adopted a more lenient definition of the term ‘address’ as pushed for by the group.”
  • Associated Press: Court rules absentee ballots with minor problems OK to count: “Wisconsin election clerks can accept absentee ballots that contain minor errors such as missing portions of witness addresses, a court ruled Tuesday in a legal fight that has pitted conservatives against liberals in the battleground state. Dane County Circuit Court ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in its lawsuit to clarify voting rights protections for voters whose absentee ballots have minor errors in listing their witnesses’ addresses. The ruling means that absentee ballots with certain technical witness address defects will not be rejected in future elections, the league said. A Waukesha County Circuit Court, siding with Republicans, barred the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2022 from using longstanding guidance for fixing minor witness address problems on absentee ballots without contacting the voter.”

MICHIGAN: Three new members of the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission were selected after a federal court ruled that the state’s maps must be redrawn ahead of the 2024 election

  • Michigan Advance: New members selected to help redistricting commission fix voting maps tossed by federal judges: “Nearly four years ago, over 9,000 Michiganders applied to the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) to redraw voting maps for congressional and state legislative districts. Now, three applicants are being asked to join the commission following resignations from previous commissioners. It’s a critical time for the MICRC, as a panel of three federal judges last month called for 13 Detroit area House and Senate districts to be redrawn for violating the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The new commissioners on Wednesday were randomly selected, just as all the commissioners have been, from a remaining pool of semi-finalists. The commission was created after Michigan voters approved a change in the state’s laws in 2018 to pass the authority to draw voting district lines for the state House and Senate and congressional seats from the Legislature to an independent citizen commission.”
  • MLive: Will Michigan’s first redistricting commission get to redraw districts federal court tossed?: “The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission told a federal court Tuesday it can redraw 13 state legislative districts in time for 2024 elections, even as plaintiffs in the suit asked for an outside expert to take charge instead. ‘The commission is dysfunctional and incapable of quickly drawing legally compliant district maps … a court-ordered map is the only realistic solution,’ attorneys for the 20 Detroit-based plaintiffs wrote in their brief. And once districts are redrawn, the plaintiffs also asked the court for special elections for the six state Senate districts that were invalidated by the court, two years before the terms of the incumbent senators would otherwise be up. They also raised the possibility that more House or Senate districts would have to be redrawn to accommodate the revised maps.”

What Experts Are Saying

Norm Eisen, regarding Trump’s presidential immunity case. for X (Twitter): “BREAKING: the DC Circ has ordered the parties to be ready to reply to the amicus briefs in the immunity case. The case is the most important they’ll confront this year as I explained. So they should consider Amici’s arguments.”

Marc Elias for Democracy Docket: “Most people paying attention to democracy in courts are aware of the major provisions, like Section 2, of the Voting Rights Act. Few are even aware of several more obscure provisions that are already being used — some for the first time ever — in 2024. If successful, they will expand the time periods for all citizens, but particularly minority and young voters, to register to vote and apply for and receive mail-in ballots for the 2024 presidential election. Another set of these would strike down all witness requirements for mail-in voting. Already four cases have been filed using this novel theory, with more almost certainly on the way soon.”

Igor Derysh, on DOJ Special Counsel’s warning against granting Trump presidential immunity, for Salon: “Smith’s team in an 82-page filing over the weekend warned an appellate court against granting former President Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution because his post-election crusade was an official part of his presidential duties. ‘That approach would grant immunity from criminal prosecution to a President who accepts a bribe in exchange for directing a lucrative government contract to the payer; a President who instructs the FBI Director to plant incriminating evidence on a political enemy; a President who orders the National Guard to murder his most prominent critics; or a President who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary,’ the filing said.”

Joyce Vance, on Trump and the U.S. legal system, for MSNBC: “At a minimum, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which will hear oral arguments on the Trump immunity matter on Jan. 9, should render a prompt decision. Indeed, in its brief, the special counsel’s office asked the court to expedite its final judgment to ensure a speedier appeal to the Supreme Court, a measure that is within that court’s discretion to grant. The issue is a legal one and has already been fully briefed before the district court. That court, and the Supreme Court in turn, have an obligation to render their decisions quickly. Proceedings in the case, which is currently set for trial on March 4, are stayed until the appellate issues are decided.“

Andrew Weissman, regarding Trump’s presidential immunity case, on X (Twitter): “Confused about what Trump is arguing to get out of his DC federal trial? Here is a primer: 1. He’s immune from criminal suit based on actions within the “outer perimeter” of the President’s functions (the std the Court has applied to civil suits against a former POTUS). Trump may prevail on #1 (although I don’t think he should), but I think there is no way he will win on ## 2-4 so he will ultimately lose…To be clear even if Trump prevails on the law on #1, he has to win on #2. Ie the facts alleged have to be within the president’s job functions.  Only then could those actions be immune from prosecution. Smith argues they are not, and gives examples of why not.”

Headlines

Extremism

Foreign Affairs: What AI Will Do to Elections

Washington Post: Elections head in Nevada’s lone swing county resigns, underscoring election turnover in key state

Washington Post: Bomb threats force evacuations in a half-dozen state capitols

Trump investigations and cases

NBC: Trump built the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, but it doesn’t always rule in his favor

UPI: Donald Trump’s legal woes: Hush money, election cases top 2024 docket

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

Washington Post: DOJ declined to prosecute Ray Epps. Now it wants him sent to jail

CBS: Federal judge dismisses part of a suit against Trump over Brian Sicknick, the officer who died after Jan. 6 attack

Washington Post: Trump says Liz Cheney deleted evidence of Jan. 6 troops. There isn’t any.

Opinion

Bloomberg Law: David Schultz: Donald Trump’s Immunity Argument Contradicts Framers’ Intent

The Hill: Sheldon Jacobson: When the courts decide state legislative maps, we all lose

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Nick Akerman: Some thoughts on presidential immunity

In the States

Carolina Journal: Magistrate judge recommends ruling against felon voting advocates in federal suit

Tampa Bay Times: State urges Florida Supreme Court not to take up challenge to DeSantis redistricting map

The Hill: Judge allows Mississippi to create state-run court in Black-majority capital city