Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Defending Democracy: Trump WILL Win at the Supreme Court-Here's How & Why
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Senator Colorado banned Donald Trump from the ballot. A bunch
- 0:04Speaker 1: of other states decided they wanted to do the exact
- 0:07Speaker 1: same thing, and now this is all going to the
- 0:09Speaker 1: Supreme Court. We thought it was appropriate to spend some
- 0:12Speaker 1: serious time on the podcast today talking about this issue.
- 0:16Speaker 1: Why was Colorado chosen to be the case that would
- 0:20Speaker 1: go to the Supreme Court over the other states that
- 0:23Speaker 1: had also done the same thing, because Trump's team and
- 0:25Speaker 1: they had options here, Why was it Colorado and what
- 0:28Speaker 1: does this mean moving forward?
- 0:30Speaker 2: Well, Colorado was really the only option. We have two decisions.
- 0:34Speaker 2: We have Colorado and Maine. Colorado was a decision from
- 0:37Speaker 2: the state Supreme Court. It was a decision that was
- 0:40Speaker 2: four to three, and a decision from a state supreme
- 0:43Speaker 2: court can be appealed to the US Supreme Court. What
- 0:48Speaker 2: happened in Maine was it was a decision from the
- 0:50Speaker 2: Secretary of State. So it was an individual It was
- 0:53Speaker 2: not a court that decided it was the secretary of state.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Secretary of State is not a lawyer. She is not
- 1:00Speaker 2: an elected official by the people. She is elected by
- 1:03Speaker 2: the state legislature.
- 1:04Speaker 3: In Maine. She made a determination.
- 1:06Speaker 2: The next step in Maine is for that to be
- 1:10Speaker 2: challenged in Maine.
- 1:12Speaker 3: Judicial court, in state court.
- 1:15Speaker 2: Okay, so you can't appeal from the main Secretary of
- 1:20Speaker 2: State to the US Supreme Court because the only option
- 1:22Speaker 2: was in Colorado was the only option. Appeals to the
- 1:26Speaker 2: Supreme Court as a general matter, lie either from state
- 1:30Speaker 2: supreme courts or lie from federal courts of appeal. And
- 1:34Speaker 2: so the way the courts work, you have a federal
- 1:37Speaker 2: system and you have a state system. Typically both are
- 1:40Speaker 2: set up with trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and then
- 1:44Speaker 2: the Supreme Court. And so in the state you have
- 1:48Speaker 2: typically a trial court, intermediapellate court, the Supreme Court, and
- 1:50Speaker 2: from the state supreme court you can appeal to the
- 1:53Speaker 2: US Supreme Court, although you can only appeal a question
- 1:56Speaker 2: of federal law. So Colorado can determine Colorado's state law
- 2:02Speaker 2: the Supreme Court, and the US Supreme Court doesn't determine
- 2:05Speaker 2: Colorado state law. But in this instance the question is
- 2:08Speaker 2: overwhelmingly it is entirely one of federal law, namely what
- 2:13Speaker 2: the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution means.
- 2:15Speaker 1: So the Supreme Court to be clear, and this is
- 2:18Speaker 1: where it's gotten complicated. When you go before the Supreme
- 2:21Speaker 1: Court in this case with Colorado, the argument that's going
- 2:24Speaker 1: to be made. Is it going to be about whether
- 2:26Speaker 1: there was insurrection and he was in charge of that insurrection,
- 2:29Speaker 1: therefore he should be disqualified with a fourteen amendment. Or
- 2:32Speaker 1: is this about a state overstepping and saying we believe
- 2:37Speaker 1: that he was a guy that was involved in insurrection,
- 2:39Speaker 1: so therefore we can take him off the bout or
- 2:42Speaker 1: is it really a combination of both.
- 2:44Speaker 2: So it'll be both, and let me break down. Look unverdict.
- 2:48Speaker 2: When the Colorado decision came down, when the main decision
- 2:51Speaker 2: came down, we said on this podcast, I predicted the
- 2:54Speaker 2: Supreme Court would do exactly what it's done, that the
- 2:57Speaker 2: Supreme Court would take the case, and that they would
- 3:00Speaker 2: take it quickly. That is what has happened. So they've
- 3:03Speaker 2: taken it.
- 3:03Speaker 3: Now.
- 3:04Speaker 2: They've set the oral argument for February eighth, so that
- 3:08Speaker 2: is exceptionally fast. Generally, when the Supreme Court takes a case,
- 3:12Speaker 2: you have months to file briefs and the oral argument
- 3:15Speaker 2: is six months down the road. In this instance, the
- 3:19Speaker 2: oral argument is a month from now. The parties will
- 3:23Speaker 2: file their briefs in the next couple of weeks. So
- 3:25Speaker 2: they are furiously writing their briefs right now.
- 3:28Speaker 1: And when you say the party is to be clear,
- 3:29Speaker 1: that is the Colorado Attorney General and her staff is
- 3:33Speaker 1: going to be filing on their side. And then who's
- 3:35Speaker 1: going to be filing this is it Trump's personal legal
- 3:38Speaker 1: team or is in the campaign.
- 3:39Speaker 2: Out well, So the Colorado Republican Party has filed an appeal,
- 3:43Speaker 2: Trump will certainly file, will participate in it. You will
- 3:47Speaker 2: have other meeky friends of the court. And what I
- 3:52Speaker 2: want to do for this podcast is two things. Want
- 3:54Speaker 2: to tell you what I think the Court's going to
- 3:57Speaker 2: do and why. But two then I want to just
- 3:59Speaker 2: explain the details of the legal arguments that are playing out,
- 4:03Speaker 2: because this is complicated, it's hard to understand, and it's
- 4:06Speaker 2: important to understand. I believe the US Supreme Court is
- 4:11Speaker 2: going to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court, and I think
- 4:14Speaker 2: there is a very good chance that the U. S
- 4:18Speaker 2: Supreme Court will do so unanimously. Really, I think if
- 4:22Speaker 2: I were to put the odds of a unanimous decision,
- 4:24Speaker 2: I'd say the odds of unanims decision are sixty to
- 4:27Speaker 2: seventy percent.
- 4:29Speaker 1: You say that, and there's gonna be what the listener,
- 4:31Speaker 1: they are gonna be shocked. I'm one of them. And
- 4:33Speaker 1: here's why I feel like I've lost some faith in
- 4:35Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, specifically over Roe v. Wade and the
- 4:38Speaker 1: leaking of that decision, and also the fact that clearly
- 4:42Speaker 1: there had to be people that knew who leaked it,
- 4:45Speaker 1: and we still haven't found out who the leaker is.
- 4:47Speaker 1: There's no indication we ever are going to figure out
- 4:49Speaker 1: who the leaker is, which is I think also shocking.
- 4:52Speaker 1: So when you come back and you say nine to oh,
- 4:55Speaker 1: tell me why you have that much faith.
- 4:57Speaker 3: So I think a number of things.
- 4:58Speaker 2: I think number one, the Chief Justice John Roberts is
- 5:01Speaker 2: going to be deeply invested in wanting this to be unanimous,
- 5:06Speaker 2: in not having the Supreme Court appear partisan. Every justice
- 5:10Speaker 2: is going to be aware this is a decision that's
- 5:13Speaker 2: going to be watched by the country and watched by
- 5:16Speaker 2: the world, and every justice is aware of not wanting
- 5:20Speaker 2: the Court to appear like a political or partisan body.
- 5:24Speaker 2: John Roberts, whom I know very very well. As you know,
- 5:28Speaker 2: I clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. John Roberts clerk
- 5:31Speaker 2: for Chief Justice Renquist as well. He's been a friend
- 5:34Speaker 2: of mine for thirty years. He cares deeply about the
- 5:38Speaker 2: institutional legacy of the Court, and he is going to
- 5:43Speaker 2: be deeply motivated a unanimous decision, I think he will believe,
- 5:47Speaker 2: and I think all of the justices will believe. Is
- 5:50Speaker 2: the best for the Court and the best for the country.
- 5:53Speaker 1: Is that because a precedent moving forward that ten years,
- 5:55Speaker 1: twenty years from now, we could see this happen again,
- 5:58Speaker 1: where a political party decides we're just going to try
- 6:00Speaker 1: to throw a guy off the ballot.
- 6:02Speaker 4: It could be a Democrat next time.
- 6:04Speaker 2: Look, the precedent on this is terrible and what the
- 6:08Speaker 2: Colorado Supreme Court did was lawless, and we'll walk through
- 6:12Speaker 2: it that in a minute. But here's what I think
- 6:15Speaker 2: will happen. So, by the way, to give you a
- 6:17Speaker 2: sense of the scope of it, if the US Supreme
- 6:21Speaker 2: Court affirmed the Colorado Supreme Court decision, Donald Trump would
- 6:27Speaker 2: be struck from the ballot. And if that determination was made,
- 6:31Speaker 2: it's not binding on the other states, but the other
- 6:34Speaker 2: states within very short order, Trump would be removed from
- 6:37Speaker 2: the ballot in all fifty states. So if the Supreme
- 6:40Speaker 2: Court decided fifty.
- 6:41Speaker 1: So not just Democrat states or there's a Democrat attorney
- 6:44Speaker 1: general there. You're saying all over the country.
- 6:46Speaker 2: The only ground on which the US Supreme Court could
- 6:51Speaker 2: affirm the Colorado Supreme Court is to conclude that Trump
- 6:55Speaker 2: is barred from running for office because of the Fourteenth Amendment,
- 6:59Speaker 2: Section three the Constitution. If the Supreme Court concludes that,
- 7:03Speaker 2: every state will remove them from the ballot, and you
- 7:05Speaker 2: will have courts order every state to do that. So
- 7:08Speaker 2: that would be a nationwide decision. Now, it would also
- 7:11Speaker 2: be a decision that would be so profoundly anti democratic,
- 7:17Speaker 2: and I think it would rip this country apart. And
- 7:21Speaker 2: the Court doesn't want to do that. You know, there's
- 7:24Speaker 2: a rich irony democrats. What they tell you, what they
- 7:30Speaker 2: accuse their opponents of doing, almost inevitably, is what in
- 7:34Speaker 2: fact they are doing. Every Democrat right now is beating
- 7:38Speaker 2: their chests saying we must save democracy. Joe Biden just
- 7:41Speaker 2: gave a ludicrously self righteous speech saying we must save democracy,
- 7:46Speaker 2: by which he means elect democrats. And nothing saves democracy
- 7:50Speaker 2: or defends democracy like throwing your opponent off the ballot,
- 7:54Speaker 2: so to stop the voters from voting for him. Understand
- 7:58Speaker 2: why the Democrats are doing this they're afraid the voters
- 8:01Speaker 2: will vote for Donald Trump if he's on the ballot,
- 8:03Speaker 2: and so they're trying to prevent democracy. I don't think
- 8:08Speaker 2: the Supreme Court is going to have any interest in
- 8:11Speaker 2: playing a part in preventing democracy, in stifling the right
- 8:16Speaker 2: of the voters to decide. And here's how I actually
- 8:19Speaker 2: think it will play out. I think John Roberts in particular,
- 8:23Speaker 2: is going to go to Elena Kagan. Elena Kagan is
- 8:27Speaker 2: the smartest of the liberal justices. She was the dean
- 8:31Speaker 2: of the Harvard Law School, she was the United States
- 8:33Speaker 2: Solicitor General. She is a very very smart, talented lawyer.
- 8:38Speaker 2: And I think Roberts is going to try very hard
- 8:42Speaker 2: to make the personal case each of the justices that
- 8:46Speaker 2: the Court needs to be united. By the way, that's
- 8:49Speaker 2: not unprecedent. If you look at Brown versus Board of Education,
- 8:52Speaker 2: which was the case in nineteen fifty four that struck
- 8:56Speaker 2: down segregated schools. That decision was unanimous. Earl Warren was
- 9:02Speaker 2: the Chief Justice. He understood that that decision was a big,
- 9:06Speaker 2: big deal. Segregated schools had been allowed under a decision
- 9:10Speaker 2: called Plessy versus Ferguson, a terrible decision, and Brown overruled
- 9:15Speaker 2: Plessy and Earl Warren thought it was critically important that
- 9:19Speaker 2: the Court speak unanimously that there'll be no division on
- 9:22Speaker 2: a Christian that would impact every American. I think this
- 9:28Speaker 2: is of a similar magnitude, and given the political context,
- 9:32Speaker 2: I think every justice will feel an urge to have
- 9:37Speaker 2: the Court not appear to be a political branch.
- 9:40Speaker 3: Now.
- 9:41Speaker 1: You mentioned, by the way, in a previous verdict, that
- 9:44Speaker 1: the justice don't necessarily talk a lot to each other,
- 9:47Speaker 1: almost never.
- 9:48Speaker 4: They operate as almost like independent law firms. As you
- 9:51Speaker 4: described it.
- 9:52Speaker 1: This seems different in this scenario where you're saying there
- 9:55Speaker 1: will be almost in essence, like a lobbying for the
- 10:00Speaker 1: sanctity of the court in essence and for the country, like, hey,
- 10:03Speaker 1: we need to all get together on this one.
- 10:06Speaker 4: This is different and.
- 10:07Speaker 1: You believe that's probably how it's going to play. And
- 10:09Speaker 1: that doesn't happen very often, correct.
- 10:11Speaker 2: It happens very very rarely. In this instance, I think
- 10:16Speaker 2: it was a no brainer the Court would take it.
- 10:18Speaker 2: It didn't surprise me at all, and by the way
- 10:20Speaker 2: it was going to be argued on February eighth, we
- 10:23Speaker 2: will get a decision.
- 10:24Speaker 3: I think by the middle of February.
- 10:25Speaker 2: We'll have a decision within a week or two or three.
- 10:29Speaker 1: Who decides at the Supreme Court to take a case
- 10:32Speaker 1: quickly and walk us just through that?
- 10:34Speaker 4: Does that have to be a lot of justices.
- 10:36Speaker 2: So what was filed is what's called a petition for
- 10:40Speaker 2: rid of cercherari. That is a request for the court
- 10:43Speaker 2: to hear an appeal. The Supreme Court is unusual in
- 10:46Speaker 2: that many courts of appeals, most courts of appeals, you
- 10:49Speaker 2: have an appeal by right. In other words, if you
- 10:51Speaker 2: file an appeal, the court has to take it. If
- 10:54Speaker 2: you have a case in federal district court, you're convicted
- 10:56Speaker 2: of a crime, or you have a civil lawsuit, you
- 10:58Speaker 2: assue me and you lose, you can file an appeal
- 11:02Speaker 2: as of right. And if you're in federal district court
- 11:05Speaker 2: here you would appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of
- 11:06Speaker 2: Appeals and the Fifth Circuit will take that appeal.
- 11:10Speaker 3: It has no choice.
- 11:11Speaker 2: The Supreme Court has what's called a discretionary jurisdiction, which
- 11:15Speaker 2: means it chooses which cases to take. In a typical year,
- 11:19Speaker 2: they are about eight thousand wow. Cert petitions is what
- 11:22Speaker 2: they're called petitions for sorcer or. Everyone calls them cert petitions.
- 11:26Speaker 2: They're about eight thousand. The Court typically takes about eighty,
- 11:30Speaker 2: so it takes about one percent of the appeals it
- 11:32Speaker 2: says yes. It takes four justices to vote to grant cert.
- 11:40Speaker 2: I believe this case was a no brainer. I think
- 11:42Speaker 2: all nine of them agreed we needed to take it.
- 11:45Speaker 2: I don't think they hesitated on, of course, whether or
- 11:50Speaker 2: not one of the two major party nominees is excluded
- 11:55Speaker 2: from the ballots and the voters are prevented from voting
- 12:00Speaker 2: under the Constitution. It is difficult to imagine a more
- 12:03Speaker 2: consequential question and a question that demands the Supreme Court
- 12:07Speaker 2: get it. Look, I don't think the Court was eager
- 12:09Speaker 2: to get into this issue at all. If Colorado hadn't decided.
- 12:12Speaker 4: This, they went to have touched it.
- 12:13Speaker 2: The Justices are not looking to opine on this, but
- 12:16Speaker 2: once Colorado ruled, they had no choice, and they had
- 12:19Speaker 2: no choice but to do it quickly.
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- 13:38Speaker 1: details about credit costs and terms. What was the mentality
- 13:42Speaker 1: of the court when you were part of the Bush
- 13:44Speaker 1: team in Bush v. Gore when they took that pretty
- 13:47Speaker 1: quickly as well, So that was that was really fast,
- 13:51Speaker 1: seems a lot like this timeline. They weren't eager to
- 13:54Speaker 1: get involved in that either, if I remember correctly, walk
- 13:58Speaker 1: us through that comparison.
- 13:59Speaker 2: Yeah, So Bush versus Gore, I was part of the
- 14:01Speaker 2: legal team representing George W. Bush in the year two thousand.
- 14:06Speaker 2: That entire legal proceeding took thirty six days, and I
- 14:09Speaker 2: was down in Florida and Tallahassee as a baby lawyer.
- 14:13Speaker 2: I was twenty nine years old, but part of the
- 14:15Speaker 2: legal team, one of the most junior members of the
- 14:18Speaker 2: legal team, but part of the legal team litigating in
- 14:21Speaker 2: that particular case. We went to the US Supreme Court twice,
- 14:25Speaker 2: and in those thirty six days, the Supreme Court heard
- 14:27Speaker 2: two appeals. Those two appeals were briefed, they heard or arguments,
- 14:32Speaker 2: and they issued decisions, and both of those played out
- 14:35Speaker 2: within the thirty six days. So the court can move
- 14:38Speaker 2: exceptionally quickly if there is an urgency to do so.
- 14:41Speaker 2: It was interesting in Bush versus Gore there was a
- 14:45Speaker 2: divide of opinion among the lawyers representing Bush as to
- 14:48Speaker 2: whether the court would take the case really, and the divide,
- 14:51Speaker 2: by and large was the divide between those who had
- 14:55Speaker 2: clerked at the court and those who had not clerked
- 14:57Speaker 2: at the court. Almost without exception those of us who
- 15:00Speaker 2: had been law clerks at the Supreme Court believe the
- 15:03Speaker 2: Court would take the case that even though in two
- 15:05Speaker 2: thousand the Court was not eager to get in the
- 15:07Speaker 2: presidential race, it required there was a responsibility for the
- 15:12Speaker 2: Court to resolve it.
- 15:13Speaker 3: I think that's exactly what they feel here now. Given that.
- 15:19Speaker 2: If it's going to be a unanimous decision, and as
- 15:21Speaker 2: I said, I think it is more likely than not
- 15:22Speaker 2: that it is, then the Court is not going to
- 15:27Speaker 2: rule I believe that there was not an insurrection, Like
- 15:32Speaker 2: that's one ground you could reverse as say there was
- 15:34Speaker 2: not an insurrection.
- 15:35Speaker 3: Why is that going to be the case?
- 15:37Speaker 2: Look, I don't think there was an insurrection as a
- 15:39Speaker 2: matter of law, and we'll talk about that in a second.
- 15:41Speaker 3: But I don't think the court will rule that.
- 15:43Speaker 2: Why because I don't think Kagan or Soda Mayor or
- 15:46Speaker 2: Kotanji Brown Jackson would rule there was not an insurrection.
- 15:51Speaker 2: So if it's going to be unanimous, they're going to
- 15:53Speaker 2: have to find a way to resolve it that is narrow,
- 15:57Speaker 2: but that reverses it and brings everyone to go. And
- 16:01Speaker 2: so here's the basis. I think they will resolve it.
- 16:04Speaker 2: I think they will resolve whether or not there was
- 16:07Speaker 2: an insurrection. I'm willing to bet right now there will
- 16:12Speaker 2: be a sentence in the opinion that says, we express
- 16:16Speaker 2: no opinion on whether or not an insurrection occurred on
- 16:19Speaker 2: January sixth.
- 16:21Speaker 1: So they're gonna say, that's not what we're here to do,
- 16:24Speaker 1: that's not what we're deciding.
- 16:25Speaker 4: We're not part of that debate.
- 16:27Speaker 2: I think what they will say instead is, however, the
- 16:31Speaker 2: determination of that matter cannot be made without evidence, without
- 16:39Speaker 2: due process, without a judicial proceeding, and in particular the
- 16:43Speaker 2: ground that I think the court will go to. So
- 16:46Speaker 2: there's a federal statute. So here's what eighteen USC. Section
- 16:50Speaker 2: two three eight three says. It's entitled rebellion or insurrection.
- 16:54Speaker 2: Whoever insights, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any
- 16:58Speaker 2: rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States
- 17:01Speaker 2: or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort there too,
- 17:05Speaker 2: shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more
- 17:08Speaker 2: than ten years, or both, and shall be incapable of
- 17:12Speaker 2: holding any office under the United States. Now notice the
- 17:16Speaker 2: penalty and capable of holding any office. This is a
- 17:18Speaker 2: statute that is codifying the Section three of the fourteenth Amendment,
- 17:26Speaker 2: and it is insurrection. Now, interestingly enough, Donald Trump, it seems,
- 17:31Speaker 2: has been indicted all over the place by a bunch
- 17:34Speaker 2: of very partisan, over zealous prosecutors who hate the man.
- 17:39Speaker 2: And you know what, he hasn't been indicted for anywhere insurrection.
- 17:45Speaker 2: Jack Smith, who is javert to Trump as Jean Valjean
- 17:52Speaker 2: Jack Smith hates Trump and wants to get him no
- 17:55Speaker 2: matter what, in prison for life senence. And Jack Smith
- 17:59Speaker 2: is in decent with a very liberal judge. He's got
- 18:01Speaker 2: a DC jurypool that is ninety four percent Democrat, he's
- 18:05Speaker 2: got the most favorable environment in the world. And you
- 18:07Speaker 2: know what he hasn't done in indicted Trump for insurrection.
- 18:11Speaker 2: And the only reason he.
- 18:11Speaker 1: Has to say so, the question is why why?
- 18:15Speaker 2: Because there's no remote evidence that would prove that Trump
- 18:22Speaker 2: had engaged in insurrection. Donald Trump sent some tweets and
- 18:26Speaker 2: stood up and gave a speech in which he told.
- 18:28Speaker 3: People be peaceable, be peaceful.
- 18:33Speaker 2: There there, you cannot prove as a matter of law
- 18:36Speaker 2: that telling people to be peaceful is engaged in insurrection.
- 18:40Speaker 2: So understand, when Democrats go on TV and say it's
- 18:43Speaker 2: an insurrection. It's an insurrection when when reporters go on
- 18:46Speaker 2: TV and say that, they mean that as political rhetoric.
- 18:49Speaker 2: Insurrection is a legal term, and there's a reason no
- 18:54Speaker 2: one has charged him with it because you couldn't pass
- 18:56Speaker 2: the laugh test. So what I think the Supreme Court
- 18:59Speaker 2: would say is, if you want to bar Trump from
- 19:03Speaker 2: being on the ballot, charge him and convict him with insurrection.
- 19:06Speaker 2: Jack Smith brings an indictment, they get a conviction, that
- 19:09Speaker 2: conviction is upheld on appeal.
- 19:11Speaker 4: Then look, then that's a different argument. Right, he's been
- 19:15Speaker 4: convicted of it.
- 19:16Speaker 2: Then it's a slam dunk if Trump were convicted of insurrection,
- 19:21Speaker 2: if anyone were convicted of insurrection, they would be barred
- 19:26Speaker 2: from being on the ballot.
- 19:29Speaker 1: When you look at Jack Smith, and I got to
- 19:30Speaker 1: go back to this because you talk about these guys
- 19:33Speaker 1: and all of the different things they've gone after Trump,
- 19:35Speaker 1: and to remind people that the entire country, not one
- 19:39Speaker 1: of these over zealous prosecutors has gone after Trump for insurrection.
- 19:43Speaker 1: Do you think Jack Smith probably sent in room with
- 19:44Speaker 1: a bunch of Democrats and said, absolutely.
- 19:47Speaker 4: Is there any way we could get him?
- 19:49Speaker 1: Is it possible if we were going to try the case,
- 19:51Speaker 1: how would we try the case? And then every time
- 19:53Speaker 1: they went back to Donald Trump's own words of him
- 19:55Speaker 1: saying go peacefully, and the tweets of him saying go peacefully,
- 19:58Speaker 1: have a peaceful day, and the fact that he also
- 20:01Speaker 1: said he offered up the National Guard, which Democrats Pelosi
- 20:05Speaker 1: said no to. So if you're trying to have an insurrection,
- 20:07Speaker 1: would you try to do that as well?
- 20:09Speaker 2: And understand looks Section three the Fourteenth Amendment was passed
- 20:12Speaker 2: in the wake of the Civil War. It was designed
- 20:17Speaker 2: to stop people who had fought for the Confederacy from
- 20:20Speaker 2: serving in Congress, from serving an elected office, from serving
- 20:24Speaker 2: in government. If you were so understand when they were
- 20:28Speaker 2: writing insurrection, they were thinking about the Civil War now,
- 20:35Speaker 2: And we could in a minute go into and we
- 20:38Speaker 2: may even do an entire podcast, a separate podcast on
- 20:41Speaker 2: some of the judicial precedent on a post civil war.
- 20:45Speaker 2: But a potential response to what I just said that
- 20:49Speaker 2: the court would say, if you want to bar Trump
- 20:51Speaker 2: from the ballot, prosecute him and convict him of insurrection.
- 20:56Speaker 2: A potential response was well, post Civil War, the Civil
- 20:59Speaker 2: War officers who were banned, they were not always barre
- 21:04Speaker 2: prosecuted for insurrection. That's true, but I will say this,
- 21:08Speaker 2: and it varied, but there was zero dispute that an
- 21:14Speaker 2: insurrection had occurred. The predicate. You want to know what
- 21:18Speaker 2: an insurrection is, Well, the Civil War lasted four years
- 21:22Speaker 2: and six hundred thousand Americans were killed. That's an insurrection. Yeah,
- 21:26Speaker 2: Like they brought out cannons, they shot and killed each
- 21:29Speaker 2: other and had a war for four years, and it's
- 21:31Speaker 2: the bloodiest war in American history. That's what they were
- 21:34Speaker 2: talking about when they said insurrection, not a riot where
- 21:40Speaker 2: some individuals committed individual acts of violence for which they
- 21:43Speaker 2: were prosecuted and are serving jail terms. That is like
- 21:48Speaker 2: the analogy is to the Civil War, and it's why
- 21:51Speaker 2: no prosecutor can can bring this case. All right, let
- 21:53Speaker 2: me walk through some of the arguments that are at play.
- 21:57Speaker 2: So here's what Trump argues to the Supreme Court in
- 22:00Speaker 2: his cer petition. First, he argued that the Supreme Court
- 22:07Speaker 2: took Congress's authority to resolve questions of presidential eligibility, that
- 22:12Speaker 2: it is a political matter to determine rather than a
- 22:15Speaker 2: legal question, whether he is eligible under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- 22:19Speaker 2: And actually in making this argument, he mentions President Obama
- 22:23Speaker 2: and disputes about whether he was eligible to be president.
- 22:25Speaker 2: He mentions Senator McCain when he ran for president, disputes
- 22:28Speaker 2: about whether he was eligible, and he mentions me, actually,
- 22:30Speaker 2: and there were disputes. There were challenges when I was
- 22:33Speaker 2: running for president. There were legal challenges that I was
- 22:37Speaker 2: not a natural born citizen. I was, in fact a
- 22:41Speaker 2: natural born citizen, because what the Constitution requires is that
- 22:44Speaker 2: you mean natural born. I was a US citizen even
- 22:47Speaker 2: though I was born in Canada. My mother was a
- 22:49Speaker 2: US citizen at the time of my birth, and so
- 22:51Speaker 2: I was a citizen by birth. The process of being
- 22:54Speaker 2: born is what made me an American citizen. I was
- 22:56Speaker 2: never naturalized. But there were a bunch of lawsuits that
- 22:59Speaker 2: were five against me when I ran. We defeated them all,
- 23:03Speaker 2: and the courts threw them out, and we defeated them all.
- 23:06Speaker 2: And what Trump said is, look, if there's a dispute,
- 23:08Speaker 2: that's ultimately a question for Congress to decide, not the court.
- 23:12Speaker 2: So that's argument number one. That's a real argument. A
- 23:15Speaker 2: second argument is that Section three does not reply to
- 23:20Speaker 2: the office of the president. This is a real argument,
- 23:24Speaker 2: but I'd be surprised if the Supreme Court agrees with
- 23:27Speaker 2: this one. But let me give you what his basis is.
- 23:30Speaker 2: Trump argues it based on three different grounds that if
- 23:34Speaker 2: you look at the phrase officer of the United States,
- 23:39Speaker 2: it appears in three constitutional provisions other than Section three
- 23:44Speaker 2: the fourteenth Amendment. It appears in the appointments clause, which
- 23:49Speaker 2: requires the President to appoint ambassador's, public ministers and consuls,
- 23:53Speaker 2: justices of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of.
- 23:57Speaker 3: The United States.
- 23:59Speaker 2: And he points out, well, the president obviously can't appoint himself,
- 24:03Speaker 2: so officers are something different than the president. Likewise, the
- 24:08Speaker 2: commission's clause requires the President to commission all the officers
- 24:14Speaker 2: of the United States. Again, the president doesn't commission himself.
- 24:18Speaker 2: So the argument is officers of the United States are
- 24:21Speaker 2: different from the president, which is a constitutional creation. And
- 24:26Speaker 2: then also the impeachment clause, the clause that verdict started with.
- 24:32Speaker 2: The impeachment clause says, quote, the President, vice President, and
- 24:38Speaker 2: all civil officers of the United States shall be removed
- 24:41Speaker 2: from office on impeachment for and conviction of treeson bribery,
- 24:45Speaker 2: other high crimes and misdemeanors, and so His argument is
- 24:48Speaker 2: if the president was an officer of the United States,
- 24:51Speaker 2: there would be no need to specify the president, vice president,
- 24:55Speaker 2: and all civil officers. So that's the argument. There's a
- 25:00Speaker 2: textual matter. It's not a crazy argument, but I would
- 25:03Speaker 2: be surprised if that persuades the court. The third argument
- 25:08Speaker 2: he makes is that as president, he took a different
- 25:12Speaker 2: oath than officers of the United States, and that demonstrates
- 25:17Speaker 2: he's not an officer. In particular, Section three bars from
- 25:21Speaker 2: office those who have taken an oath to quote support
- 25:25Speaker 2: the Constitution. And the president's oath of office is specified
- 25:31Speaker 2: in the text of the Constitution and it is not,
- 25:33Speaker 2: in fact an oath to support the Constitution. It is
- 25:35Speaker 2: an oath to quote, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.
- 25:42Speaker 2: I'm not terribly persuaded by that argument. It is technically
- 25:45Speaker 2: right that the word support is not there, but.
- 25:49Speaker 1: That would be one of the weaker arguments that they
- 25:51Speaker 1: would be making of their options.
- 25:53Speaker 2: Yeah, I would be surprised if the court grounded it
- 25:58Speaker 2: on supports different from preserve, protect, and defend.
- 26:02Speaker 1: By the way, when you go in there, as you're
- 26:04Speaker 1: laying out these arguments from his team in the oral arguments.
- 26:08Speaker 1: Would you make all of these or do you choose
- 26:10Speaker 1: the one you want to make that you think is
- 26:12Speaker 1: the one that they're willing to probably side with the most.
- 26:15Speaker 1: Do you pick your best or do you make all
- 26:17Speaker 1: of these saying here are the reasons why we think
- 26:19Speaker 1: this is wrong, and these are the different options.
- 26:22Speaker 4: How does that work in the oral arguments?
- 26:24Speaker 2: So it varies strategically. Typically, the way people will do
- 26:28Speaker 2: it is they will make they'll make all the arguments
- 26:31Speaker 2: they have reasonably available to them in the briefs.
- 26:33Speaker 3: The briefs are written documents.
- 26:37Speaker 2: They are typically in the US Supreme Court emerits brief
- 26:39Speaker 2: is tip typically fifty pages long, and it's a booklet.
- 26:42Speaker 2: It's a booklet that is oh about three fourths the
- 26:47Speaker 2: size of a sheet of notebook paper. And so it's
- 26:49Speaker 2: a bound little booklet fifty pages long. And in your
- 26:55Speaker 2: written briefs, I would expect them to make all of
- 26:58Speaker 2: these arguments in oral argument, A good oral advocate is
- 27:03Speaker 2: going to prioritize it.
- 27:04Speaker 4: Is that the same for good on the spring where
- 27:06Speaker 4: it works?
- 27:07Speaker 1: Those books that you're talking about, is that the same
- 27:11Speaker 1: book that you have for every justice?
- 27:13Speaker 4: Or can you taper them?
- 27:15Speaker 3: None of different you file.
- 27:17Speaker 2: Each side files uh the petitioner will file an opening
- 27:22Speaker 2: brief that is fifty pages, the respondent will file a
- 27:26Speaker 2: response brief that is fifty pages, and then the petitioner
- 27:29Speaker 2: gets to file a reply. So there'll be three briefs
- 27:32Speaker 2: filed by the parties, two by the petitioner, one by
- 27:35Speaker 2: the respondent, and then amiki amik is Latin for amicus
- 27:40Speaker 2: kurei which friend of the court. And there will be
- 27:43Speaker 2: other parties that are a mek file briefs urging the
- 27:47Speaker 2: court to do something.
- 27:49Speaker 3: But an oral argument.
- 27:51Speaker 2: A good oral advocate will prioritize the best arguments. And
- 27:56Speaker 2: one of the things what really differentiates the best oral
- 28:00Speaker 2: advocates from ones that are merely okay are their ability
- 28:06Speaker 2: to read the court and pivot. So what I argued
- 28:09Speaker 2: nine cases at the court, what I very much tried
- 28:12Speaker 2: to do is watch and read the justices, and if
- 28:16Speaker 2: there was an argument that I was making, I would
- 28:18Speaker 2: have thought through what are my best arguments, and so
- 28:20Speaker 2: I'd come in with a pretty clear idea, all right,
- 28:23Speaker 2: here's the ground on which I think I can win
- 28:25Speaker 2: for my client. But in the course of the questioning,
- 28:28Speaker 2: if I see an opening for a justice whose vote
- 28:31Speaker 2: I need to get, and maybe I think arguments one
- 28:34Speaker 2: and two are really good and one justice likes argument three.
- 28:38Speaker 2: A good oral advocate will pivot based on where the
- 28:43Speaker 2: justices are and read the justices. And by the way
- 28:46Speaker 2: I would expect, because I believe John Roberts passionately wants
- 28:52Speaker 2: this to be unanimous, I would advise Trump's attorney to
- 28:56Speaker 2: listen to John Roberts very carefully. So before John Roberts
- 29:00Speaker 2: was Chief Justice, he was a Supreme Court advocate, and
- 29:05Speaker 2: he was I think the finest Supreme Court advocate of
- 29:08Speaker 2: his generation.
- 29:08Speaker 4: When you say advocate, what does that mean?
- 29:10Speaker 3: Lawyer?
- 29:10Speaker 1: He argued in front of the Spring Court he was
- 29:12Speaker 1: if if you wanted to go to the Supreme Court,
- 29:14Speaker 1: have a good chance of winning, this is a guy
- 29:17Speaker 1: you'd want to be making the arguments in your behalf.
- 29:18Speaker 4: That's your definition of an advocate.
- 29:20Speaker 3: So John Roberts was.
- 29:21Speaker 2: He was the Deputy Solicitor General, the principal deputy Solicitor
- 29:25Speaker 2: General under George Herbert Walker Bush so Bush forty one,
- 29:29Speaker 2: the first Bush. He was Ken Starr's deputy. So Ken
- 29:33Speaker 2: was the solicitor General. John Roberts was the deputy Solicitor
- 29:36Speaker 2: General Principal Deputy. And from there he went to Hogan
- 29:40Speaker 2: and Hartston, which is a DC law firm, and he
- 29:42Speaker 2: led their Supreme Court practice. And in Bush versus Gore,
- 29:45Speaker 2: John was part of our legal team. I recruited John.
- 29:47Speaker 2: I called John on the phone from Tallahassee and said, John,
- 29:51Speaker 2: we need you down here, and he flew down and
- 29:53Speaker 2: joined our legal team. And so Bush versus Gore. I
- 29:56Speaker 2: litigated it alongside John, worked on the briefs with him.
- 30:00Speaker 2: Ted Olsen did the oral arguments, but John was part
- 30:03Speaker 2: of the mooting team that was asking Ted the questions
- 30:07Speaker 2: and preparing Ted for the arguments. When I was clerking
- 30:10Speaker 2: for Chief Justice Renquist, my co clerks and I we
- 30:14Speaker 2: asked the Chief We said, all right, you see lots
- 30:16Speaker 2: of lawyers, who's the best Supreme Court advocate in the country?
- 30:21Speaker 2: And Rehnquist laughed and he said, you know, I think
- 30:23Speaker 2: I could get a majority of my colleagues to say
- 30:26Speaker 2: John Roberts is the best Supreme Court advocate alive.
- 30:28Speaker 4: Wow.
- 30:29Speaker 3: And I agree with that.
- 30:29Speaker 2: I've seen John argue multiple cases, and I think it
- 30:32Speaker 2: was hands down like he was just when I argued cases.
- 30:37Speaker 2: I tried to emulate John Roberts' argument style because he
- 30:41Speaker 2: was so good. And so when I was arguing cases, Now,
- 30:45Speaker 2: look when I started arguing cases when Renquist was still chief,
- 30:48Speaker 2: and then I argued a number of cases with Roberts's
- 30:51Speaker 2: Chief And I'll tell you what I did when I
- 30:53Speaker 2: was arguing with Roberts's chief is I'm looking at the
- 30:57Speaker 2: best Supreme Court advocate alive who have to be sitting
- 31:00Speaker 2: in the center seat. And part of what made him
- 31:03Speaker 2: so good is he was more skilled than anyone else
- 31:06Speaker 2: at reading the other justices and the swing justice in particular,
- 31:09Speaker 2: back when it was Kennedy and O'Connor who were the
- 31:12Speaker 2: swing justices, John Roberts was excellent at it. So in
- 31:15Speaker 2: the argument, I would pay very close attention to Chief
- 31:20Speaker 2: Justice Roberts because if he laid out an argument, he's
- 31:24Speaker 2: telling you, I think this is the theory that gets
- 31:28Speaker 2: Kennedy and O'Connor, and so I would pivot very much.
- 31:31Speaker 2: And my advice for Trump's lawyer is pay really close
- 31:36Speaker 2: attention to what Roberts is saying, because he's not just
- 31:39Speaker 2: asking for himself, he's asking on the theory he thinks
- 31:43Speaker 2: is most likely to unify the.
- 31:45Speaker 1: Court and get you to that nine zero unanimous decision. Yeah,
- 31:48Speaker 1: how long are they going to have to argue this?
- 31:50Speaker 1: I mean when you talk about oral arguments, is it
- 31:53Speaker 1: is it ours?
- 31:54Speaker 4: Is it ninety minutes? What are we talking about?
- 31:55Speaker 2: So normally an argument is an hour. So normally each
- 31:58Speaker 2: side has thirty minutes. They can extend it. They might
- 32:01Speaker 2: extend it in this instance. I don't know, but normally
- 32:04Speaker 2: an argument is an hour. And the bulk of the argument,
- 32:07Speaker 2: by the way, is questioning from the justices. So you
- 32:10Speaker 2: get up and the justices are asking you questions, and
- 32:13Speaker 2: that it's a back and forth. It's not a mile.
- 32:17Speaker 2: Is a statement there is? There didn't used to be.
- 32:21Speaker 2: So the old way they did Supreme Court arguments was
- 32:25Speaker 2: you would start off, you'd stand up and you'd say,
- 32:27Speaker 2: mister Chief Justice, and may it please the court? And
- 32:29Speaker 2: every argument begins with that, and you would sometimes get
- 32:36Speaker 2: less than a sentence into your argument and a justice
- 32:40Speaker 2: would jump in and pepper you with questions and what
- 32:43Speaker 2: made it invigoratings? You'd have a question here, a question here,
- 32:45Speaker 2: question here, and it was just non stop, and you
- 32:49Speaker 2: had to be quick and fast and anticipate justices who
- 32:53Speaker 2: disagreed with your position. They're trying to ask you questions
- 32:55Speaker 2: to expose the weakness of your case, and you had
- 32:58Speaker 2: to anticipate it. They have post COVID, they regimented it now,
- 33:04Speaker 2: and I really don't like how they do it now.
- 33:06Speaker 2: But they now have a period of questioning from each justice,
- 33:10Speaker 2: and so it's a little it's not the wild face.
- 33:13Speaker 1: It's almost like Congress, where you have five minutes or
- 33:15Speaker 1: you have three minutes, and then you go in this order.
- 33:17Speaker 1: Whereas before it could be a conservative just as to
- 33:20Speaker 1: your question, followed up by a liberal justice to your question,
- 33:22Speaker 1: followed up by another justice asking your question.
- 33:24Speaker 4: It was it was control chaos.
- 33:27Speaker 3: It was, yes.
- 33:28Speaker 2: But it is more regimented now. But I would say
- 33:32Speaker 2: I would expect the chief justices questions to lay out
- 33:36Speaker 2: in the questions what he think thinks is the best
- 33:39Speaker 2: theory to bring the court together. All right, let me
- 33:41Speaker 2: give you the rest of Trump's arguments. Fourth argument he
- 33:44Speaker 2: makes is that Trump did not participate in an insurrection,
- 33:48Speaker 2: because an insurrection, as understood at the time of passage
- 33:51Speaker 2: of the Fourteenth Amendment, means the taking up of arms
- 33:54Speaker 2: and waging war upon the United States. Now, I think
- 33:58Speaker 2: that's absolutely correct. I think it's ludicrous to say that
- 34:01Speaker 2: Trump engaged in an insurrection based on the facts. I
- 34:04Speaker 2: also do not believe the Supreme Court will conclude that
- 34:08Speaker 2: because you can't get nine justices for that, and I
- 34:11Speaker 2: think they will want unanimity, and so they'll say, look,
- 34:14Speaker 2: my guess is we might get a concurrence from one
- 34:18Speaker 2: of the more conservative justices saying this clearly was not
- 34:21Speaker 2: an insurrection, but we might not. And by the way, look,
- 34:26Speaker 2: I said that there's a sixty to seventy percent chance
- 34:28Speaker 2: of it being unanimous. That means there's a forty to
- 34:32Speaker 2: thirty to forty percent chance that the liberal justices just
- 34:36Speaker 2: hate Trump so much they can't bring themselves to do it.
- 34:38Speaker 4: And what would that decision look like.
- 34:40Speaker 1: I mean, would it be one or two that say, hey,
- 34:42Speaker 1: just for the principle and said nine, we're going to
- 34:43Speaker 1: go seven to here, or even go sixty three.
- 34:47Speaker 3: Look, sixty three would be heartbreaking.
- 34:51Speaker 2: It would do real day in this country to the
- 34:53Speaker 2: Court and to the country if it just broke on
- 34:56Speaker 2: partisan lines. If the three liberal justices dissented and the
- 35:01Speaker 2: six more conservative justices were in the majority, I think
- 35:04Speaker 2: that would be terrible for the court, and I really
- 35:09Speaker 2: hope it's not so. The fifth argument that Trump made
- 35:16Speaker 2: is that the Elector's Clause requires states to appoint presidential
- 35:21Speaker 2: electures quote, in such matter as the legislature thereof may direct.
- 35:26Speaker 2: In other words, the courts can't intervene in that. The
- 35:29Speaker 2: sixth argument is that Section three cannot be used to
- 35:35Speaker 2: deny a candidate access to the ballot. It can only
- 35:39Speaker 2: be used instead to prevent someone from holding office. So
- 35:45Speaker 2: all of those are arguments, as I said, and you
- 35:50Speaker 2: know it's and it's horse. By the way, the argument
- 35:54Speaker 2: that I think will will fly is the argument that
- 36:01Speaker 2: it was not adequately determined that Trump had participated in insurrection,
- 36:08Speaker 2: not that there wasn't an insurrection, but that the means
- 36:12Speaker 2: of ascertaining that.
- 36:14Speaker 1: When that goes back to Jack Smith and what you're
- 36:16Speaker 1: talking about, he was never charged, much less convicted, and
- 36:19Speaker 1: it didn't work its way through the court system. And
- 36:22Speaker 1: so if you believe that Donald Trump in fact was
- 36:25Speaker 1: a part of an insurrection, then charge him with it,
- 36:27Speaker 1: get him convicted of it, then you have that different
- 36:29Speaker 1: argument goes back to what you were saying at the
- 36:31Speaker 1: very beginning.
- 36:32Speaker 2: Yes, and I will say look, one of the questions
- 36:36Speaker 2: that will be front and center litigated is whether Section
- 36:40Speaker 2: three is self executing. Self executing means a provision of
- 36:44Speaker 2: the Constitution that has force of law, that doesn't need
- 36:48Speaker 2: Congress to pass legislation to enforce it, and that will
- 36:52Speaker 2: be actively disputed. And in the Colorado Supreme Court, one
- 37:00Speaker 2: of the justices, Justice Carlos Simour, dissented on this point.
- 37:05Speaker 2: And what he said is that the majority opinion of
- 37:07Speaker 2: Colorado stripped President Trump of due process of the due
- 37:11Speaker 2: process of law, and he says Section three didn't specify
- 37:15Speaker 2: the procedures that have to be followed to be determined
- 37:18Speaker 2: whether someone is engaged insurrection. All the Democrats is absurd.
- 37:22Speaker 2: It's insurrection. It's insurrection, but that hasn't been determined as
- 37:26Speaker 2: a legal matter, and so Justice Samour concluded the Section
- 37:33Speaker 2: three is not self executing and requires legislation for enforcement.
- 37:37Speaker 2: And he argued that the lower courts proceeding in Colorado
- 37:44Speaker 2: lacked basic discovery, lacked the ability to subpoena documents, lacked
- 37:48Speaker 2: the ability to compel witnesses, lacked any time frame to
- 37:52Speaker 2: investigate or developed defenses, and lacked the opportunity for a
- 37:56Speaker 2: fair trial. And he pointed out that in his view,
- 38:04Speaker 2: Section three cannot be self executing because it doesn't provide
- 38:09Speaker 2: any procedural guides. For example, Section three the Fourteenth Amendment
- 38:13Speaker 2: is completely silent on whether a jury has to be
- 38:16Speaker 2: impaneled or not. Can a judge decide it? Or does
- 38:18Speaker 2: it have to be a jury your peer as well?
- 38:20Speaker 2: Section three doesn't say it. What's the burden of proof?
- 38:24Speaker 2: Is it beyond a reasonable doubt? Is clear and convincing evidence?
- 38:28Speaker 2: Is it simply a preponderance of the evidence. Those are
- 38:30Speaker 2: very different burdens of proof. Constitution is silence on that.
- 38:34Speaker 2: What's the standard of review, what's the standard of discovery,
- 38:37Speaker 2: what's the standard of evidence? Is it a civil determination
- 38:39Speaker 2: or criminal determination? None of that is there. And so
- 38:44Speaker 2: what he argues is that Congress could pass legislation to
- 38:49Speaker 2: adjudicate that.
- 38:52Speaker 3: I'm not entirely persuaded on that.
- 38:54Speaker 2: What I would say is Congress has passed legislation when
- 38:57Speaker 2: it's set up a criminal statute for insurrection, that there
- 39:00Speaker 2: is a mechanism and it is a criminal trial.
- 39:04Speaker 4: And charge him and charge him. And so you go
- 39:07Speaker 4: back to the very beginning of what you said.
- 39:09Speaker 1: No one has had the kons to charge them because
- 39:12Speaker 1: they know they would lose.
- 39:13Speaker 2: You could not prove the case in court, which is
- 39:17Speaker 2: why instead you have partisan judges or a partisan Secretary
- 39:20Speaker 2: of State just asserting it because they believe it is
- 39:24Speaker 2: a political matter. Now, on our next podcast, what I
- 39:28Speaker 2: want to walk into and go into is there is
- 39:31Speaker 2: some history and some Supreme Court history on the Fourteenth
- 39:36Speaker 2: Amendment in section three right after the Civil War and
- 39:39Speaker 2: Jefferson Davis in particular. So I'm going to give a
- 39:42Speaker 2: tease for our next podcast. I'm going to walk through
- 39:45Speaker 2: what happened with Jefferson Davis under the Fourteenth Amendment Section three.
- 39:50Speaker 2: But let's be clear, Jefferson Davis, by any measure, engaged
- 39:55Speaker 2: in dramatically different conduct leading the Confederacy in way aging
- 40:00Speaker 2: war with the United States for four years is very
- 40:03Speaker 2: different from giving a speech telling people to be peaceful
- 40:07Speaker 2: and so. But there is complicated precedent post Civil War.
- 40:13Speaker 2: In the next podcast will dive into that.
- 40:15Speaker 1: It's going to be very fun. This is why I
- 40:17Speaker 1: love doing this show. I also will get your political predictions.
- 40:20Speaker 1: I do want to end with one last thing, just
- 40:23Speaker 1: so people have that timeline you mentioned earlier. Supreme Court's
- 40:26Speaker 1: going to hear this. When and when do you think
- 40:28Speaker 1: we'll have a decision from the Supreme Court.
- 40:30Speaker 2: February eighth is when they hear the oral argument. I
- 40:33Speaker 2: think we will get a decision quickly. I think it's
- 40:36Speaker 2: possible it could be within days. I think it will
- 40:40Speaker 2: be at the very latest by March fifth, which is
- 40:43Speaker 2: when the Colorado primary is. And my guess is it'll
- 40:47Speaker 2: be a week or two. That's just it'll be as
- 40:49Speaker 2: quick as they can write the opinions. But I think
- 40:51Speaker 2: they will feel an urge to move quickly.
- 40:55Speaker 1: It's going to be incredible, that's phenomenal. We're going to
- 40:57Speaker 1: cover it all. That's what we do here quickly to
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- 42:48Speaker 1: don't have to worry about running out Choq dot com.
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- 42:56Speaker 1: It's a new year, and we thank you guys for
- 42:58Speaker 1: spending time with us. Make sure you sh this podcast
- 43:00Speaker 1: with your family and friends. We obviously did this one
- 43:02Speaker 1: on video for many of you may be listening audio only.
- 43:05Speaker 1: You can grab it on YouTube. You can grab it
- 43:07Speaker 1: on x you can grab it on Facebook. We stream
- 43:09Speaker 1: it on all of those platforms, so you can share
- 43:12Speaker 1: this on your social media. Happy new Year from all
- 43:14Speaker 1: of us here, and we'll see you back here in
- 43:16Speaker 1: a couple of days for basically part two of what's
- 43:18Speaker 1: gonna unfold here with the Supreme Court.
- 43:21Speaker 4: We'll see you then,