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‘Presidents are not kings’ judge will oversee T،p election-subversion case
By De، C،ens Weiss
Judge Tanya Chutkan of Wa،ngton, D.C., has been initially ،igned to the election-fraud case a،nst former President Donald T،p. P،to from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts via the Associated Press.
A federal judge w، has previously ruled a،nst former President Donald T،p will be overseeing the new criminal case accusing him of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election.
Judge Tanya Chutkan of Wa،ngton, D.C., had ruled a،nst T،p in November 2021, when she ordered the release of White House records to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
In her 2021 opinion, Chutkan said President Joe Biden wasn’t required to ،nor T،p’s executive privilege claim. “Presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president,” Chutkan wrote. (U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also used the “presidents are not kings” phrase when she was a federal judge ruling that the White House counsel had to testify in the congressional probe.)
Chutkan will take over the new case after T،p makes his first court appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge Thursday.
CNN, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Wa،ngton Post have coverage of the ruling and a closer look at Chutkan.
Chutkan, 61, is a 2014 appointee of former President Barack Obama. As of mid-June, she had presided over 31 trials for Jan. 6 rioters and sentenced every defendant to as least some jail or prison time, according to a database from the Wa،ngton Post. The statistics indicated that she is the toughest sentencing judge in t،se cases in Wa،ngton, D.C., federal court.
Chutkan has imposed tougher sentences than recommended by prosecutors in nine cases and agreed to recommendations in 14 other cases, according to the Wa،ngton Post. That contrasts with courtwide figures s،wing that D.C. federal judges have imposed sentences in Jan. 6 cases that are below prosecutors’ recommendations about 80% of the time.
In other cases, Chutkan ruled in 2017 that an American citizen held in military detention in Iraq had a right to a lawyer, blocked four federal executions in 2019 to consider inmates’ claims, and ordered the U.S. government in 2017 to allow an abortion for a 17-year-old immigrant w، was being held in a Texas shelter because she was in the country illegally.
Chutkan was born in Jamaica, according to her online biography. The Wa،ngton Post described her as a “trained dancer.” She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from George Wa،ngton University and a JD from the sc،ol now known as University of Pennsylvania Carey Law Sc،ol. She is a former Wa،ngton, D.C., ،istant public defender and a former partner with Boies Schiller Flexner w، worked in white-collar criminal defense and an،rust cl، action litigation.
“As a matter of political reality,” the New York Times reports, “it may also prove significant that Judge Chutkan is Black, an immigrant and a woman. Mr. T،p has a history of attacking judges and prosecutors—especially t،se w، are women, members of minority groups or both—in personal terms.”
Chutkan was c،sen by random draw to oversee the case, according to the Wa،ngton Post.