(Photo by Lux Butler/Cronkite News)
By Jennifer Schutt | AZ Mirror
A federal circuit court announced Monday it will hold oral arguments in May to determine whether a lower court erred when it blocked the Pentagon from downgrading Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s retirement rank and pay for appearing in the “Don’t Give Up The Ship” video.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s new schedule came just days after the Trump administration requested an expedited timeline.
“In light of the public’s unusual interest in prompt disposition of this appeal, the government respectfully requests that this Court set an expedited briefing schedule that will allow the Court to hear oral argument this Term, before the Court’s summer recess,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate wrote in a filing submitted Friday.
The circuit court now expects the Trump administration to file a brief by March 20 explaining why it appealed the district court’s ruling and for Kelly’s legal team to file its reply brief by April 27. Attorneys for both sides would then present their oral arguments May 7.
