Trump asks full DC Circuit bench to rehear gag order unanimously upheld by appeals panel
18 December 2023
Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals for a “panel rehearing and/or en banc consideration” of a previous ruling that largely upheld a gag order against the former president.
As Politico senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein notes, Trump is asking for the “full bench of the DC Circuit to take up [the] validity of a gag order” first imposed in October by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing special counsel Jack Smith's election interference case in Washington D.C.
After a challenge from the former president, that gag order was ruled on in December by a three-judge federal appeals panel, who found "the court had a duty to act proactively to prevent the creation of an atmosphere of fear or intimidation aimed at preventing trial participants and staff from performing their functions within the trial process.” Judge Patricia Millett wrote the court's 3-0 decision.
Politico reported on the appeals court ruling:
The [federal appeals] provisions, however, represent a notable narrowing of Chutkan’s original gag order, which the appeals court said “sweeps too broadly.” The panel ruled that Trump remains entitled to criticize various figures who played a role in the 2020 election saga as long as he does not zero in on their potential testimony at the trial[.]
At the time, Trump promised to appeal the ruling. Last week, Chutkan paused the election interference case as the former president "pursues his claims that he is immune from prosecution," the AP reports. "... She also said her ruling had no bearing on the enforcement of a gag order placing restrictions on Trump’s speech outside of court.
Trump’s latest petition also asks the DC Circuit for a new stay of the gag order. As political and legal analyst Mike Sacks wrote, "the unanimous panel ruling narrowed Judge Chutkan’s gag order and was prob as good as Trump could get from the Dem-majority DC Circuit," noting the panel was comprised of judges appointed by President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.