Here’s Felon Trump’s Crazy SCOTUS Plan—and It May Even Work
Despite a commonly held belief that the right-leaning U.S. Supreme Court can’t save Donald Trump from his recent criminal conviction in New York, due to it being a state case, the former president’s team could still try to divert the case away from Manhattan and to the nation's highest court instead—a long-shot strategy that might yet throw this year’s election further into chaos.
Much depends on New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. The harder he punishes Trump—with jail time, for instance—the greater the likelihood lawyers for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will stage an end run of the state justice system and head straight to Washington.
What matters is whether Trump’s defense team, led by attorney Todd Blanche, tries something of a Hail Mary pass: claiming Trump’s treatment in New York somehow violated his Fifth Amendment right to a fair trial.