President Trump has vowed to appeal his guilty verdict.
Amid speculation about how former President Donald Trump’s appeal of his conviction will play out, retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said he thinks there’s a way the former president can expedite the process to get it before the U.S. Supreme Court before the November presidential election.
President Trump vowed to appeal his guilty verdict in a case in which he was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal non-disclosure payments as part of an alleged bid to influence the 2016 presidential election when he was a candidate.
While legal experts told The Epoch Times that standard practice is that all possible appeals in the New York state court system must first be exhausted before an appeal ends up before the Supreme Court, there has been speculation about whether that process could be accelerated.
Amid allegations that the trial was politically driven and riddled with bias, there have even been calls for the Supreme Court to intervene at an earlier stage, before the state appeals process is exhausted.
For instance, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that the Supreme Court should “step in” and overturn the conviction, with the speaker arguing that the circumstances of the case have led to an erosion of public faith in America’s justice system.
Mr. Johnson, and others, have argued that the case was a backhanded attempt to tarnish President Trump’s reputation in the minds of voters and undercut his chances at election, and that the Supreme Court should have a chance to weigh in before voters head to the polls in November to restore a sense of fairness.
Mr. Dershowitz addressed the matter in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Friday, charting a possible expedited path through the New York state appeals process.
Fast-Tracking the Appeal?
The retired law professor said that President Trump’s legal team should push to get its appeal heard immediately before the New York Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York state and the last step before a petition can be filed at the U.S. Supreme Court. However, appeals to this court are not automatic and generally require permission from the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court—or from the New York Court of Appeals itself.
By Tom Ozimek
