Appeals court 'puts pressure on Trump’s team' to act fast: legal experts

Donald Trump lost his "presidential immunity" case on Tuesday in which the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals destroyed his arguments in court.

Several legal experts were quick to offer analysis on the decision, which they said puts Trump in a box when it comes to his options for appeal.

Lawfare's Anna Bower referenced an "important" piece of the ruling: "The panel directs the clerk to issue the mandate—i.e., send the case back to Judge Chutkan—on Feb. 13 unless Trump seeks Supreme Court review before then. That puts pressure on Trump’s team to seek SCOTUS review by next Monday."

This prompted former prosecutor Shan Wu to quip, "And we know how well his legal team performs under pressure..."

Law professor Jonathan Turley, who was opposed to both of Trump's impeachments, argued that Trump's team had won by significantly delaying his upcoming trial past the 2024 presidential election, although other lawyers jumped in to correct him as inaccurate.

Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias for instance, joked that “Turley is just Mike Lindell with tenure.”

Eric Columbus, a former DOJ and White House lawyer, also downplayed the possibility that the trial could be delayed past the election.

"While it takes only four justices to agree to hear a case, it takes 5 to issue a stay," he argued. "Unless 5 decide to halt Trump's D.C. trial, it will proceed."

This means that the conservatives would need Chief Justice John Roberts' vote to stop the case from moving forward before the election.

Former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said Trump has only a week to file the appeal immediately to the Supreme Court. He explained that the D.C. court made it clear that if Trump wants to delay his case further, it must be done by the U.S. Supreme Court or else the case is back on.

"So, all eyes should be on a filing that Donald Trump will certainly make in the next week asking for Supreme Court review and what the Supreme Court does. It's quite possible they reject that quickly and this case will be back before Judge [Tanya[ Chutkan," he said.

And former prosecutor Harry Litman praised the "DC Cir's statement par excellence" about "the dual claim that Trump's conduct would violate the powers of other branches to check the President and also the right of people to vote and have their votes counted."