B-but, but... The Burn Bags??? The grand jury in Florida??? The conspiracy against rights???
Kash gotta stick around to cover for that stuff, right?
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, keep it that way. This is like the dumbest bullshit I've ever heard, and I've heard a lotta bullshit. )
Double jeopardy is not a factor in this situation, because the first jeopardy "does not attach" until a jury is seated and sworn in for trial, or when a guilty plea is accepted. The trial by jury is the "jeopardous" part of the criminal justice process. If the case is tossed before that point for any reason, then there is no jeopardy bar to refiling.
If a trial starts, but ends in a mistrial, then it is usually possible to go to another trial, even though jeopardy "has attached". A mistrial ruling effectively "unwinds" the entire trial like it never happened.
or is it like an annulment where it kind of never happened?
This is what Judge Currie said in her opinion. The indictments didn't happen because they were run entirely by a pretend US attorney.
I am not looking forward to potential litigation on that question.
[The Senators and Representatives] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Beach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
You are correct. The public only receives written transcripts of the relevant sections of tape only. Off-topic conversations, meaning anything that is not relevant to the air accident, are not released. The audio files are not released to the public.
Both of these are "without prejudice", meaning the gov can refile charges if they get their act together on legally appointing a US attorney with the advice and consent of the Senate.
It's not completely clear, but these dismissals could moot the other pending motions to dismiss, including the vindictive prosecution claims, even though those could result in "with prejudice" dismissal.
The government can appeal these rulings. They have done so in other invalid US attorney cases.
If they refile on Comey, he will argue that the statute of limitations has run out. The government will argue that they get a 6 month extension under a statute. Judge Currie already stated today that Comey's position is correct, but I don't know if that opinion binds whatever future judge gets the case when it's refiled.
Letitia James still has more time on the statute of limitations, so she's in a worse position.
It might be hard to actually get these cases refiled. Halligan was appointed using an invalid procedure precisely because there's no way she could pass Senate confirmation. Every other prosecutor of any competence has preferred to get fired rather than charge these cases. The order today gives the judges the power to appoint an interim US attorney again, and if they do so, that one could stop any prosecution. And finally, the cases would have to pass grand jury scrutiny again. We know the Comey charges barely scraped by on 14 votes the first time.
It's a real geopolitical problem for Russia. Russia got screwed by geography in terms of natural harbors that don't freeze over in the winter. It's why they've always had a crap navy, going way back into the imperial days.
Right now, the Russian Navy is based in Murmansk (brrrr. limited routes to get out into Atlantic) and the Black Sea. The Black Sea is bad for them because Turkey (a NATO member) makes sure to maintain total control of what passes through the Bosphorous.
Part of what Russia did in Syria during the civil war netted them a lease on a base on the Mediterranean. That could have had some use for power projection, but I think they lost it when a certain opthalmologist was expelled.
Anyhow, it's hilarious when the trolls posing as MAGA Americans bring this up, because real Americans just take their total abundance of ports that don't freeze over completely for granted. That's why I point out secondary, less busy port cities on the Gulf of Mexico, where the water is actually pretty warm (instead of just not freezing over). Just to highlight how good the US has it. Even if we were forced to give up Norfolk and Coronado, there are plenty of other suitable places we could have naval bases.
Ah, yes. As a patriotic American I love our warm water ports like Corpus Christi and Tampa. Don't you love warm water ports as well?
In semi related news, Greg Bovino, the El Paso sector chief turned tactical commander of Operation Midway Blitz, has personally been found to be a non-credible witness by a federal judge.
This is a finding of fact. It's presumptively admissable evidence in any future legal case he might testify in. On appeal, it can only be reversed for "clear error."
Yep. And remember folks, every secret service, FBI, DEA, or ATF agent out on the streets abducting brown people is one less agent working their regular counterfeiting, terrorism, public corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, or weapons cases.
The speech and debate clause is separate from the arrest clause. The Treason exception only applies to the first part.
Additionally, Treason has a definition elsewhere in this document, and just giving any kind of speech doesn't meet the standard.
It would be pretty hard to claim that any kind of speechifying amounts to "Aid and Comfort", especially if you can't identify the "Enemy" in a time when the nation is at peace.
Now the first amendment does apply here, but I expect a legal defense to go to this speech and debate clause first, then 1st amendment. Because 1st amendment has a bunch of exceptions of the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" type, but speech and debate is going to be more ironclad. Once you convince a court that you were doing Congressional speech or debate, then the only discipline you can face is from your chamber's rules, period.