Silver Linings

Judge Merchan moving the sentencing to mid September is smart. It gives Trump and DA and the court time to brief the issues, but Merchan will ultimately reject the weak Trump claims, and importantly the new mid-September sentencing date will make it VERY hard for Trump to then…

— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) July 2, 2024

To be clear, Trump has to exhaust his state appeals before the Supremes can get at this case. And that’s not necessarily a straight line process. 

The Appellate Division could order the case back to trial, and that could be appealed. The Court of Appeals could send it back to the Appellate Division, which ruling could be appealed again. It could end up in a new trial, eventually, which would start the appeals process over again. By the time it could get to the Supremes, Alito and Thomas could be off the court; the court could be larger; there could even be a constitutional amendment overturning Trump v U.S.

Or Trump could be dead; or bankrupt. 

Trump may start his appeal in September (although , come to think of it, he might have to wait until mid-October). It’s just going to be more legal fees, and a reminder he is a convicted felon.