It looks like the Hunter Biden gun case might finally be headed to trial next month after Biden's various appeals came up empty.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected Hunter Biden's effort to get his gun case in Delaware dismissed.
A three-judge panel of the court did not consider the merits of his appeal, ruling that as a matter of procedure the lower court’s rejection of his various motions to dismiss the case are not appealable at this time.
“This appeal is dismissed because the defendant has not shown the District Court’s orders are appealable before final judgment,” the order reads.
Shortly after that ruling, the judge overseeing his case denied another request to dismiss his case. Biden's attorneys have been making a 2nd Amendment argument that restricting his right to own a gun because of his crack addiction was unconstitutional. The judge didn't buy it.
Federal law bars people who use illegal drugs from buying guns. Biden’s team, however, argued in court that this ban violates the Second Amendment. They pointed to a recent Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which constrained the government’s power to regulate gun ownership.
Judge Maryellen Noreika, however, was unpersuaded. Norieka, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, noted that while the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the drug-user ban to be unconstitutional in one situation — specifically, as applied to a habitual marijuana user — that court explicitly emphasized that its decision was quite narrow. And she wrote that the “vast majority” of district courts who have reviewed the drug-user ban in the post-Bruen world have upheld it as constitutional.
Finally, the judge also threw out a request by the Biden team for discovery of communications involving President Trump and the DOJ. Similar to Trump himself, Hunter has been pushing the argument that his trial is the result of political interference.
As part of an effort to find evidence that Hunter Biden was being politically targeted, his attorneys asked for any documents about him that involved Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, other top Justice Department officials or several US attorneys.
But the judge turned down that request Thursday. She previously rebuffed Hunter Biden’s bid to throw out the case because of the supposed politicization, noting that even though Trump did call for Hunter Biden’s prosecution while he was president, the charges were filed under President Joe Biden’s watch and with oversight from Biden’s appointees.
“Defendant has failed to show how any of the requested communications among former DOJ and Executive Branch officials could constitute exculpatory evidence as applied to him and the three firearm-related offenses being pursued here,” Noreika wrote Thursday.
That should clear the way for Biden's trial which is already scheduled to start on June 3. However, it sounds as if the Biden legal team is going to ask for a 2nd opinion from the 3rd Circuit court which could delay things.
“In reviewing the panel’s decision, we believe the issues involved are too important and further review of our request is appropriate,” Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement about the appeals court ruling, suggesting that he may ask the full Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit to rehear the appeal.
Hunter also has a tax case scheduled to start a bit later next month, but his legal team is apparently trying to stall that one too.
President Biden’s son, 54, is attempting to appeal his lost bid to toss the case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal income taxes for the years 2016 through 2019.
Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss’ office said in papers filed in Los Angeles federal court Tuesday that the first son improperly filed the notice of appeal as a “stunt” in order to push back his June 20 trial date.
He may be able to drag this out a few more weeks but it's hard to see how he could push either trial past the date of the election. And if he can't do that, what's the point?
