Another Trump Delay!

 John Lauro excuses himself the way Trump would:

In a letter to Lauro on Wednesday, the clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Lauro must first join the court's bar before any of his filings are accepted," reported Darren Samuelsohn and Steve Reilly. "Our records reveal that you are not a member of the bar of this court," said the letter, adding, "It is the policy of the court that all attorneys appearing before it be members of the bar of this court. Our rules do not allow us to accept filings from attorneys who are not members." 

"Lauro told The Messenger that this is a routine matter and that he plans to join the court's bar," said the report. “I’ve been a member of the DC bar and the federal trial court bar for nearly 40 years," Lauro told reporters. "This is a routine request from the federal appellate court to join its bar, which I will do in order to represent President Trump in this important matter.”

Except, no, that’s not what happened:

Lauro apparently filed a notice of appearance on the case that he is representing Trump, but is not licensed to practice in that court, nor did he advise the court that an application process is pending. Normally, a lawyer in this situation would submit an application for admission either before or simultaneously with the notice of appearance, with notice provided to the court. But not a Trump lawyer.

Simply, after working in DC nearly 40 years, he should know this. This kind of mistake is what a lawyer I worked for meant when he’d say: “They don’t pay us to be wrong.”

Any associate who did this would be reamed by the partners, and put his career at risk. This is the kind of thing you just don’t do. Although I haven’t been impressed with Lauro’s efforts to make bricks without straw and only the shit his client has given him. Lawyers actually do that all the time (criminal defense lawyers actually do; prosecutors tend to hold all the cards); but Lauro seems particularly incapable.

This, after all, is as simple as filing a pleading or making sure you meet a deadline. Lauro knows the lawyers listening to him are tacitly saying: “You fucked up.”

His client’s appeal can’t even start until he fixes this.