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It's Trump arraignment week — but let's not ignore the other news

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It's Trump arraignment week — but let's not ignore the other news

Trump is expected in court Tuesday. But don't forget about: DeSantis, West Virginia's anti-trans SCOTUS request, Tuesday's elections, state lawmakers, and a new Arizona death penalty challenge.

Chris Geidner
Apr 3, 2023
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It's Trump arraignment week — but let's not ignore the other news

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The former president of the United States is due to be arraigned on multiple criminal charges Tuesday, setting in motion the first of what could be as many as four criminal proceedings against Donald J. Trump in the coming months.

The arraignment in New York court — coming out of an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and last week’s announced grand jury indictment of Trump — is scheduled to take place 19 months before the 2024 election, and it is reportedly focused on the hush money payment given to Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election.

The moment is newsworthy, obviously. It deserves attention. And it will get it, here included.

But, it also is a moment where we’ll need to be careful to not let the Trump News Cycle™️ — yet again — overtake other important news. Tuesday could become the news dump day to end all news dump days (until, of course, the next Trump indictment).

So, what else is happening?

DeSantis’s weak week

Related to Trump’s indictment, there was, of course, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s feeble attempt to push his way into the news cycle by saying that Florida won’t help to extradite Trump — even though Trump is planning on turning himself in Tuesday.

I wrote about this at MSNBC, going through the legal logistics and discussing how DeSantis likely could complicate things but not much more than that, even if we got to that point. I also, though, took a step back to remind folks that this does, yet again, tell us something about DeSantis:

Trump will be in New York on Tuesday and DeSantis’ proclamations are no more than a political ploy by the Florida governor to win favor with his potential primary opponent’s devoted base.

It is, however, another example of how DeSantis is not a “better” Republican alternative to Trump. He is just different. And the coming months will give us all many opportunities to see how both men ignore the law when it conflicts with their interests and use any legal powers they have (or think they have) to advance the same.

DeSantis actually had a really bad week, looking more and more weak by the day, both by his basically being ignored by Trump and by his getting played by the biggest player in Florida: Disney.

Supreme Court silence

We still haven’t heard from the U.S. Supreme Court on West Virginia’s attempt, teaming up with the far-right Alliance Defending Freedom, to stop a 12-year-old transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, from running on her middle school’s cross-country team.

At this point, it seems likely that at least one justice is writing in dissent to the court’s decision, whatever it might be, given that this is a shadow docket matter in which the briefing has been complete since March 22.

We are expecting orders at 9:30 a.m. today out of the March 31 private conference of the justices, but those generally do not include shadow docket rulings.

[Update, 11 a.m.:

Twitter avatar for @chrisgeidner
Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner @chrisgeidner
#SCOTUS grants no new cases this morning.
1:31 PM ∙ Apr 3, 2023
20Likes2Retweets

The full orders list can be found here.]

We could, however, get a ruling in the West Virginia request as soon as later today.

Aside from those items, there are no oral arguments this week and the justices’ next private conference is not scheduled until April 14.

Law Dork with Chris Geidner brings you independent, reader-supported legal and political journalism that seeks to hold government and other public officials accountable. Support this reporting by becoming a free or paid subscriber today.

Election Day on Tuesday

There are some very big elections on Tuesday, most notably for Wisconsin Supreme Court and for Chicago mayor.

In Wisconsin, it’s Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, the Democratic-backed candidate, in her race against former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, the Republican-backed candidate. The outcome of the race will determine whether a 4-3 majority of the court leans left or right. The outcome of Tuesday’s race could affect several issues in the state, including abortion and redistricting, but also national electoral questions given Wisconsin’s role as a key swing state.

Twitter avatar for @akela_lacy
Akela Lacy @akela_lacy
NEW: Jan 6 funders are spending millions to back the conservative candidate in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The candidate, Daniel Kelly, advised the state GOP in crafting a fake elector scheme to give the 2020 election to Trump
theintercept.comJanuary 6 Funder Is Spending Millions on Wisconsin Supreme Court ElectionThe court stopped Donald Trump’s election challenge by a one-vote margin. Now a billionaire Republican election denier is spending to ensure a conservative majority.
2:10 PM ∙ Apr 2, 2023
570Likes353Retweets

In Chicago, it’s the race to be the next mayor of the third largest city in the country. With current Mayor Lori Lightfoot having come in third in the initial election, the two top vote-getters are facing each other in a runoff Tuesday. Brandon Johnson is the progressive Democrat in this race, and Paul Vallas is somewhere between the centrist Democrat and the man on the right, depending on who you talk to.

Twitter avatar for @jimdaleywrites
Jim Daley @jimdaleywrites
I spoke to a dozen educators in cities where Paul Vallas has run schools and found a trail of privatization followed by lawsuits, labor violations and arrests of Black and Latiné kids. My latest for @TheTRiiBE
thetriibe.comPaul Vallas’s trail of school privatization • The TRiiBEThe mayoral candidate has opened dozens of charter schools around the country, and is opening a militarized charter in Arkansas even while campaigning in Chicago.
1:16 PM ∙ Mar 26, 2023
1,509Likes953Retweets

Legislating continues apace

State lawmakers are pressing forward.

First up, there’s Jessica Valenti, whose daily updates on abortion in our post-Roe America are essential reading.

Abortion, Every Day
The Week in Abortion
Crisis in the South This week, a 6-week abortion ban in Florida advanced quickly, while lawmakers in North Carolina proposed a near-total ban. Florida is expected to pass its ban while North Carolina isn’t, but we can’t take anything for granted—if both states banned abortion, the South’s access to care would be decimated…
Read more
2 months ago · 128 likes · 43 comments · Jessica Valenti

Second, yes, there are many, many anti-LGBTQ bills moving forward and becoming law — even as some begin to face pushback in court. But, it’s definitely worth a moment to step back and note the power expressed by Trans Day of Visibility — captured so well by Erin Reed.

Erin In The Morning
"Stand up fight back!" - Trans Day Of Visibility Brings Huge Crowds, Court Victories
Read more
2 months ago · 99 likes · 4 comments · Erin Reed

I’ll have more on the status of anti-LGBTQ legislation in a standalone post later this week.

Arizona death penalty questions

Finally, there was news from the Arizona Republic’s Jimmy Jenkins over the weekend. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has said executions will not take place in the state while a review that she ordered is ongoing. The Arizona Supreme Court already ruled that the court’s death warrant for Aaron Gunches — which was issued earlier this year and set his execution for Thursday — only authorizes his execution, it does not require it.

Nonetheless, Jenkins reported, family members of the man Gunches murdered, Ted Price, have gone to court again, seeking a ruling against Hobbs under the state’s provision protecting victims’ rights.

Twitter avatar for @JimmyJenkins
Jimmy Jenkins @JimmyJenkins
BREAKING: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Department of Corrections Director Ryan Thornell must appear in court to defend their refusal to execute death row prisoner Aaron Gunches, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled. azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
5:11 AM ∙ Apr 1, 2023
59Likes31Retweets
Twitter avatar for @JimmyJenkins
Jimmy Jenkins @JimmyJenkins
Judge Frank Moskowitz issued the order to appear in response to a complaint from the family of the man Gunches killed. They say the gov's refusal to act on a warrant for Gunches' execution amounts to a denial of their rights as crime victims as guaranteed in the AZ Constitution.
5:16 AM ∙ Apr 1, 2023
10Likes1Retweet

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It's Trump arraignment week — but let's not ignore the other news

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