The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected former President Donald Trump’s plea for the entire court to reconsider the appeal of his gag order, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court appeal.
On December 18, Trump had requested a rehearing of his appeal regarding a gag order imposed by District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversees his election interference case in Washington, D.C. In a brief order issued on Tuesday, his request was denied.
In December, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the gag order with some minor modifications. The court lifted the part restricting Trump from making statements about Special Counsel Jack Smith and narrowed the restriction on speech about witnesses to statements related to “their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”
Judge Patricia Millett, appointed by Obama, wrote in the court’s December 18 opinion, “Mr. Trump’s documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences pose a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process in this case in two respects.”
Trump retains the option to appeal Chutkan’s gag order to the Supreme Court.
Chutkan initially imposed the gag order in October. As refined by the D.C. Circuit, the order prevents Trump from publicly targeting “(1) counsel in the case other than the Special Counsel, (2) members of the court’s staff and counsel’s staffs, or (3) the family members of any counsel or staff member—if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.”
Trump’s 2020 election case is presently on hold per an order by Chutkan, while the appeal of his attempt to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity is pending. On December 1, Chutkan declined to dismiss the case based on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
