(Photo
by
Tom
Brenner
for
The
Washington
Post
via
Getty
Images)
Well,
the
Republic
was
fun
while
it
lasted.
This
afternoon
Special
Counsel
Jack
Smith
moved
to
voluntarily
dismiss
both
criminal
cases
against
Donald
Trump.
Thanks
to
our
feckless
Supreme
Court
and
a
50-year-old
precedent
meant
to
usher
Richard
Nixon
out
without
too
much
fuss,
Donald
Trump
has
managed
to
save
himself
from
the
consequences
of
an
attempted
coup
by
getting
himself
reelected.
As
in
the
Mueller
Investigation,
the
Justice
Department’s
invented
immunity
for
a
sitting
president
has
once
again
thwarted
the
prosecution
of
an
unrepentant
criminal.
“It
has
long
been
the
position
of
the
Department
of
Justice
that
the
United
States
Constitution
forbids
the
federal
indictment
and
subsequent
criminal
prosecution
of
a
sitting
President,”
Smith
writes
in
his
motion
to
dismiss
the
election
interference
case
in
DC,
adding
that
“That
prohibition
is
categorical
and
does
not
turn
on
the
gravity
of
the
crimes
charged,
the
strength
of
the
Government’s
proof,
or
the
merits
of
the
prosecution,
which
the
Government
stands
fully
behind.”
Smith
says
that
he
consulted
the
Office
of
Legal
Counsel
and
concluded
that,
“although
the
Constitution
requires
dismissal
in
this
context,
consistent
with
the
temporary
nature
of
the
immunity
afforded
a
sitting
President,
it
does
not
require
dismissal
with
prejudice.”
Presumably
this
is
to
leave
open
the
possibility
of
prosecuting
Trump
once
he
leaves
office,
if
ever.
In
the
Eleventh
Circuit,
Smith
also
moved
to
dismiss
the
appeal
of
Judge
Aileen
Cannon’s
dismissal
of
the
stolen
documents
case
—
but
only
with
respect
to
Trump
himself.
“The
appeal
concerning
the
other
two
defendants
will
continue
because,
unlike
defendant
Trump,
no
principle
of
temporary
immunity
applies
to
them,”
he
writes
of
Trump’s
hapless
henchmen
Walt
Nauta
and
Carlos
De
Oliveira.
Dismissing
with
respect
to
the
lesser
goons
would
be
problematic,
allowing
Cannon’s
fakakta
ruling
that
special
counsels
are
illegal
to
stand.
This
may
present
a
conundrum
for
Pam
Bondi,
when
she
takes
the
reins
from
Attorney
General
Merrick
Garland:
How
can
she
appoint
Special
Counsel
Matt
Gaetz
to
investigate
Jack
Smith
if
special
counsels
are
against
the
law?
(That’s
a
joke.
Logical
and
legal
inconsistency
is
not
going
to
be
a
bar
in
a
second
Trump
administration.)
In
the
meantime,
dismissing
these
cases
paves
the
way
for
Smith
to
release
his
mandatory
final
report.
Under
28
CFR
§
600.8(c),
“At
the
conclusion
of
the
Special
Counsel’s
work,
he
or
she
shall
provide
the
Attorney
General
with
a
confidential
report
explaining
the
prosecution
or
declination
decisions
reached
by
the
Special
Counsel.”
AG
Garland
has
indicated
that
he
does
intend
to
release
this
report
publicly,
something
AG
Bondi
would
certainly
refuse
to
do.
That
won’t
stop
the
BlueAnon-ers
from
insisting
that
Smith
should
have
stuck
around
until
January
and
made
Trump
fire
him.
But
at
least
it’ll
make
for
good
reading
as
we
all
wait
to
be
shipped
off
to
Gitmo.
US
v.
Trump
[11th
Circuit
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
US
v.
Trump [District
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye
lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos
substack and podcast.