Bannon Loses Appeal on Reporting to Prison on July 1
Steve Bannon has been working the system to try to get his jail report date backed up.
It has all been for naught, though, because he just lost his appeal.
Unless something changes, Bannon still must report to a low-security facility by July 1.
No Deal
Bannon was sentenced to four months for contempt of Congress.
Bannon’s team has been arguing that because he is an advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, he should be permitted to delay his reporting date until after the election is over.
If he reports on the current date required, he would not get out of prison until November 1, just days before the election, effectively sidelining him for the remainder of the election cycle.
Bannon lost his initial motion, as we suspected, and now the appellate court has ruled against him as well.
While I expect Bannon to try to elevate this to the Supreme Court, I just don’t see how he wins this case.
The court could care less what his job is and nobody else would be given a delay so they could work, so this appeal will continue to fall on deaf ears.
Two of the three judges on the panel were appointed by Democrats, one by Obama and one by Biden.
The third judge, Judge Justin Walker, was appointed by Trump, and in his dissent, he wrote that Bannon should be able to remain free until all of his appeal options are exhausted.
I happen to agree with that, as this was a nonviolent crime. If Bannon eventually wins an appeal, he would have served time for no reason (but again, I do not think he will win the appeal).
What I suspect will happen here is that his team will file for an emergency injunction by the Supreme Court, which I believe the court will reject, and Bannon will be forced to report to jail in Connecticut as he has been ordered.
The man will not go quietly, however, and somehow, I think he will still find a way to speak his mind, even if it is from behind bars.