U.S. judge fast-tracks hearing over House impeachment subpoena to ex-Trump deputy national security

[hlthe2b]

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A federal judge on Monday fast-tracked a former national security aide’s request for the courts to decide whether he must comply with a White House order not to testify or Congress’s subpoena in the House impeachment inquiry.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon of Washington ordered final arguments to be held Dec. 10 at the request of Charles Kupperman, a former deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration.

Leon had previously said he intended not to take up the merits of the lawsuit until a later date. His shift comes as more White House officials have defied subpoenas but sets up a potentially landmark legal battle over the White House’s ability to defy Congress’s impeachment powers.

Kupperman, who served as deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton, filed a lawsuit asking for a court to resolve the competing demands.

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[Karadeniz]

1. The courts should have set up an ad hoc panel to move these obstructive suits along.

[StarfishSaver]

2. That's not how the courts work

Courts manage cases within their jurisdictions and it's up to the judges to determine how to manage their cases.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. so hand it over to the JAG and let the Army round 'em all up!

Or they could pull Judge Dredd out of mothballs and see if these scofflaws wanna face some rockets.

Seriously, I wish "fast tracking" meant 2 weeks, not a month. It might cause some paralegals to need medical attention, though, trying to round up all the info in that amount of time.

[StarfishSaver]

4. It also would mean that other litigants whose cases are very important to them

would be forced to delay - including criminal defendants and prisoners whose lives and liberty are at stake and who also want to have their cases decided as quickly as possible and not pushed down on the docket because other, high profile cases have been given a priority over them.

It's a careful balance best left up to the judges and panels managing the dockets.