What to expect over the next 20+ months of "breaking" legal news?
Discover more from Simple Politics with Kim Wehle
What to expect over the next 20+ months of "breaking" legal news?
Plus some updates on this newsletter (and a humble "ask" for support)!
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your unwavering support, and a special thank you to my new subscribers and to everyone who recently upgraded their subscriptions. I do this Substack because I care deeply about the problems facing our country, and I want to encourage informed civil discourse.
Lots of legal happenings are coming up over the next 20 months (scroll down for a list).
Now, I want to announce that I will be aiming to post two newsletters per week, on Monday and Thursday mornings. Mondays will be for paid subscribers and Thursdays will be free. Complex legal news is coming out every day, and it has massive implications for American democracy, the 2024 presidential election, and our Constitution. I’ll break it all down for you.
Simple Politics with Kim Wehle is 100% reader-supported.
Prices will increase at the end of September, so take advantage of my current pricing by upgrading to paid before then!
What does a paid subscription do?
Paid subscribers get a bunch of benefits, including full access to my archived posts, the ability to post comments, and an exclusive Q&A with me once a month!
Paid subscribers will also get extra posts on breaking legal news.
Kim, why support your newsletter now when the free version works great for me?
There will be an avalanche of legal news over the next 20 months (or through the next election and swearing in of the next president, at the very least). I will break it down for you — even if you are not a lawyer, never went to law school, and aren’t really following things that closely.
The stakes for democracy could not be higher. Let’s face it: If Trump is elected, American democracy is over. This is not hyperbole, friends. One thing about Donald Trump: He tells us what he’s going to do, and he does it. And his vision for a second term is dark, dark, dark.
People ask me all the time what they can do to stave off the serious threats to our children’s future. Informed people care about ensuring that authoritarianism — the right-wing version of government being disguised as conservative “democracy” today — does not take hold in America.
Well, one thing you can do is pitch in a few dollars a month to help me educate folks. (Thank you.)
But first … remind me of what Trump trials are happening … and when?
There will be at least 7 trials implicating Donald J. Trump.
New York Attorney General Leticia James’s civil trial alleging that the Trump Organization engaged in business fraud begins on October 2.
The first criminal trial starts on October 23, when two of Trump’s criminal co-defendants in the Fulton County, Georgia election case go to trial. All eyes will be on that case to see what kind of evidence Trump will face.
Trump’s Georgia trial will be later, although we don’t know the date yet. And let’s not forget there are 16 other co-defendants, including Mark Meadows, who asked to have his case tried in federal (versus state) court.
E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation case against Trump (he lost the first) is set for trial on January 15, 2024.
March 4, 2024, is the date set for trial in federal court in Washington, D.C., in the January 6 conspiracy case against Trump.
The Manhattan D.A.’s criminal case against Trump for allegedly falsifying business records goes to trial on March 25, 2024.
The federal trial in the Mar-a-lago classified documents case goes to trial on May 20, 2024.
To be honest, I am not that interested in Trump stuff—is there anything else you will cover, Kim?
Yep.
The U.S. Supreme Court could be hearing important motions on the scope of presidential immunity and the President’s pardon power.
It’s entirely possible, if not likely, that Trump issued a self-pardon for crimes committed in office while he was still in office. That is a big legal conundrum.
Never fear! My next book is on the pardon power, out next summer.
The right-leaning Court is also dismantling longstanding constitutional protections for individual rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. And it’s dissolving the constitutional separation between church and state. Meaning we could one day be a quasi-official Christian-ish nation.
This is being done rather quietly — which means that it takes a seasoned legal eye to see the trajectory and explain its implications.
The end result is that the most dangerous branch of government in the 21st Century could be the unelected federal judiciary.
Very important stuff.
This sounds kinda scary—should I be scared?
Maybe a little bit of fear is a good thing. It will get folks educated. It will get folks to the polls.
My genuine hope is that, ultimately, my work helps us see the humanity in each other. It’s not about blue versus red, after all. It’s about fostering compassion and tolerance so we can work in tandem as a whole nation toward a united future.
Education is key to protecting democracy.
Follow the facts,