Effectively saying the public’s interest in seeing the prosecution’s evidence in the criminal case is not impacted by the fact that the release will come just before a federal election, DC Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the release of information in Republican nominee and previously convicted felon Donald Trump.
“[…] Defendant claims that the ‘asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference,'” Chutkan wrote. “There is undoubtedly a public interest in courts not inserting themselves into elections, or appearing to do so. But litigation’s incidental effects on politics are not the same as a court’s intentional interference with them.
“As a result, it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest: If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be—election interference. The court will therefore continue to keep political considerations out of its decision-making, rather than incorporating them as Defendant requests. Any argument about ‘what needs to happen before or shouldn’t happen before the election is not relevant here.'” [Citations removed.]