There has never been a case like this one.
That is not just the view of some passing legal blogger, but of the judge herself. As Judge Kathleen M. Williams said in her latest, highly significant order:
“But perhaps the most startling misstatement advanced by Plaintiffs is their characterization of this case as “ordinary.” […] There is nothing “ordinary” about this case; it is the very definition of sui generis.”
“Sui generis” is a legal phrase, meaning a thing is unique.
As a biologist would say, a thing has a genus all of its own.
*
The case is, of course, the (supposed) litigation between President Trump and his own government, which was (supposedly) settled in a way so as to lead to a huge slush fund for political allies and wide ranging tax immunities for Trump.
And that has come to a halt, with this wonderful piece of legal writing, which you should read in full.
I will do a longer piece on here when I have fully recovered from an irksome illness, and thank you for your patience in the meantime.
An earlier version of this had a borked link to the court document, now fixed.
Magnificent. Especially the use of “gild” in this bit:
“The issue before the Court is whether, instead, they ignored ethical norms, court rules, and legal authority to manipulate the judicial process. The issue is whether they did so to gild their efforts to gain unprecedented access to the public fisc with the patina of legitimacy.”