The outcome of the Trump Presidency may be decided tomorrow.
I think much will depend on how U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington rules tomorrow regarding the Congressional subpoena of Don McGhan. If McGhan is forced to honor his subpoena, others who have hung back (e.g., Bolton) may decide to honor theirs as well. Presumably, this would set a precedent for other courts, including the ultimate court in the Senate under Judge John Roberts.
No matter which way the judge rules tomorrow most likely it just sets up an appeal to the appeals court and perhaps on to the Supremes. It would only be a precedent in that District Court and would not set up a precedent in the Senate if a trial occurs in the Senate, and Chief Justice John Roberts would not be bound by the ruling from any District Court in his role in any trial in the Senate.
Ture, BUT, .. at some point the pressure on Roberts to protect Harshal’s court will be intense. Remember the founders actually did very little to define the court’s powers. That as supposed to be left to Congress. Roberts knows that and how he rules will change change history.
Of course the ruling is not going to make it clear that McGahn would not show up and take the 5th, or claim client/attorney privilege which many of the other potential witnesses could not claim.
The court very well say there are limits on Congress inquiry abilities. Like that little thing called Separation of power, and some of those first ten amendments to the constitution.
1. attorney-client privilege does not apply to government attorneys.
The “separation of powers” is not explicit ion the Constitution. Any decision based on that would, n effect, rewrite the Constitution. While courts have done that before on narrower issues, this would be a major chnage.
Doesn’t matter whether McGahn testifies or not. Trump isn’t going to resign, and GOP senators aren’t going to remove him. He could nuke McConnell’s house and they still wouldn’t kick him out.