Trump’s Lawyers Really Suck

Judge Kaplan: I'm not saying I'll view it as timely, but you could file a written motion.
[Inner City Press will report on it if filed, and on everything else - watch this feed
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— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 22, 2024

And what, you may ask, is a "Daubert motion"?

A Daubert motion is a specific type of legal motion filed by a party in a lawsuit, typically the defendant, to exclude the testimony of an expert witness or the presentation of unproven scientific evidence. 

Federal Rule of Evidence 702 requires that expert testimony consist of specialized knowledge. The motion is based on the premise that the expert's methods are not scientifically valid or relevant to the particular case. This standard came forth because Federal Rule of Evidence 702 requires the following: 

That expert testimony consists of scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge and 

That it legitimately helps the judge or jury understand the evidence or issues raised in the criminal case. 

Suppose one side wants to challenge expert witness testimony in a criminal case. In that case, they would file a "Daubert Motion," which forces the other side to prove that the expert is basing their opinion on legitimate scientific principles. 

Before the Daubert case, the Federal Rules of Evidence effectively allowed courts to decide if an expert witness was qualified to testify, while the jury would decide whether their testimony was credible, commonly known as the "Frye" standard. 

However, the 1993 Supreme Court ruling in Daubert changed this by putting more responsibility on judges to ensure that only reliable scientific evidence could be presented at trial. The ruling established a set of criteria for evaluating scientific evidence, now known as the "Daubert" standard, including the following: 

Whether the theory or technique has been tested, 

It can be and has been subjected to peer review and publication, It has a known error rate, and 

Is generally accepted within the relevant scientific community. 

A Daubert motion is typically filed before trial and may be based on information found in discovery documents, including expert witness reports or papers. In some instances, it can also be filed after the trial begins.

But it is a motion to exclude testimony before the jury hears it. This is precisely the issue presented by Trump’s possible testimony: you can’t put the egg back in the shell after it’s broken, and you can’t really get a jury to unhear what it has already heard.

This sounds like Trump’s legal team was talking over the weekend and somebody said: “Hey, did you ever hear of a ‘Daubert motion?’ “ 🤪