While Wednesday’s news has seen a surprise or two, one item that doesn’t fall into that category is the now formal move by Special Counsel Jack Smith to ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to pause proceedings before it on his office’s appeal of the classified documents case dismissal in light of the November 5 election.
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Smith’s office already moved to vacate the briefing schedule in the D.C. case pertaining to the 2020 election, which motion was granted by Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday. The plan there is to inform the court of his office’s plans for proceeding by no later than December 2.
And earlier on Wednesday, we noted that Smith is preparing to pack things up and resign ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
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Late Wednesday afternoon, Smith followed through with the 11th Circuit, asking the appellate court to halt proceedings there as well.
Special counsel Jack Smith is asking an appeals court to halt his appeal against President-elect Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified and top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Smith did the same in the D.C. election interference case last week.
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In the Motion to Hold Appeal in Abeyance, which may be viewed in full below, Smith cited the same basis as he did before the D.C. District Court and proposed to inform the court of his office’s plans going forward by December 2.
As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, one of the defendants in this case, Donald J. Trump, is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025. The Government respectfully requests that the Court hold this appeal in abeyance—and stay the deadline for the Government’s reply brief, which is currently due on November 15, 2024—until December 2, 2024, to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy. If the Court grants the abeyance, the Government will inform the Court of the result of its deliberations—and, if appropriate, file its reply brief—no later than December 2, 2024. The Government has consulted with counsel for the defendants, who do not object to this request.
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In this case, Trump has two co-defendants: Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. It remains unclear what will become of the case as it relates to them. We’ll know more once Smith’s office advises the court of its next steps and will, of course, update readers as soon as we do.
DJT – FL – Govt Motion to Hold Appeal – 11-13-24 – #77 by Susie Moore on Scribd