Barbara McQuade, Columnist

Trump Is Just Like Any Other Defendant, Except When He’s Not

Judge Tanya Chutkan kept her case moving briskly forward. Judge Juan Merchan pumped the brakes on his. Each choice makes sense.

September 7, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Barbara McQuade

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law school, a former US attorney and author of the forthcoming book, "The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government."

On the defensive.
Photographer: Cheney Orr/Bloomberg

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Two judges had two different takes this week on whether former President Donald Trump should be treated the same as any other defendant.

On Friday, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan granted the request of Trump’s legal team to delay his sentencing in the hush money case from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26 to ensure the jury’s verdict “is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election.”