The Honorable U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
Jan. 6 election interference case
The ACLU on Oct. 25 submitted a motion seeking the court’s permission to enter an amicus brief in the case in which it argued that a partial gag order issued a week earlier by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was “overly-broad.”
In a brief order entered Tuesday, Chutkan declined to allow the brief to be filed in the case, citing local and federal procedural rules. “Although courts have in rare instances exercised their discretion to permit third-party submissions in criminal cases, neither the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure nor the Local Criminal Rules contemplate the filing of amicus curiae briefs,” Chutkan wrote. “At this time, the court does not find it necessary to depart from the ordinary procedural course by permitting this filing.”
Chutkan’s gag order prohibits all parties in the case, including Trump, from making public statements targeting prosecutors or their staff, defense lawyers or their staff, court staff and supporting personnel, and “any reasonably foreseeable witnesses or the substance of their testimony.”
