Detailed update about the current Bannon subpoena case timeline
The subpoena was issued by the Jan. 6 committee on Sept. 23, 2021.
Back in November, I posted a thread about upcoming developments in the Bannon case:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=16084105
As noted elsewhere on DU, the court has issued a scheduling order in the case, tentatively setting jury selection to begin July 18. The court's order is short:
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Carl J. Nichols: VTC Status Conference as to STEPHEN K. BANNON held on 12/7/2021. Defendant appeared by video. Status Report, including a proposed briefing schedule, due by 12/16/2021. Jury Selection/Trial set to commence on 7/18/2022 at 9:00 AM in the Ceremonial Courtroom before Judge Carl J. Nichols. Bond Status of Defendant: Remains on Personal Recognizance; Court Reporter: Lorraine Herman; Defense Attorneys: David I. Schoen, Matthew Evan Corcoran, and Robert J. Costello; US Attorneys: Amanda Rose Vaughn, J.P. Cooney, and Molly Gulland Gaston. (zkh)
So, to be clear, the proposed trial start in July doesn't take into account that the parties have not agreed on a briefing schedule.
That's not much of a surprise given the tenor of the "joint" status report that was turned in yesterday by the parties, which you may read here:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.237438/gov.uscourts.dcd.237438.18.0_1.pdf
If you are pissed off about the July date, you may want to read that.
"The Government requests a trial date on or before April 15, 2022—six months from the indictment."
"The Defendant respectfully requests a trial date of October 17, 2022, if that is convenient for the Court and counsel."
It's clear from the joint status memorandum that the US and Bannon are poles apart on discovery motions and dispositive motions. "Dispositive motions" are things that would get rid of the case, for various reasons. Bannon had originally requested that dispositive motions be due in July, so in the next status report due on December 16, 2021, he's going to have to pick another date.
He is going to premise motions to dismiss on a raft of rationales, as noted in the current report linked above:
It is too early in the case to identify with specificity what motions the defense will file in
this case. Naturally, motions to dismiss the indictment will be determined by what facts are
identified during discovery. Based on the information obtained to date, we anticipate filing motions
to dismiss the indictment. To our knowledge, no citizen has been criminally charged under 2
U.S.C. Section 192 in many years. In addition, Mr. Bannon’s communications with the U.S. House
Select Committee included the invocation of executive privilege. This case raises complex
constitutional issues of first impression. Some of these issues involve inter-branch relationships
and on the operations of the U.S. government at its highest levels. There is no basis for having
these issues adjudicated on a rushed basis.
By deciding to proceed with a criminal referral rather than initiating a civil enforcement
action, the impact was at least three-fold. First, it cut short the accommodation process that would
have led to the disclosure of non-privileged information. Second, it triggered a variety of Fifth and
Sixth Amendment constitutional rights for Mr. Bannon that otherwise would not have been
implicated and which must be assiduously honored. Third, it gave rise to a variety of individual
constitutional rights-based defenses which must all be explored as well as constitutional issues of
an institutional variety, including important separation of powers considerations.
Given what may, or may not, be novel issues, then either the US DC District trial court or the DC Circuit Court of Appeals can stay the proceedings in the US DC District court while appeals on the preliminary motions are run up and down the appeal route.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
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