Given the House's extensive Supreme Court investigation, it might seem that both sides in the Brock case should be all set to go. The House Judiciary Committee's work produced thousands of pages of sworn private testimony and many hours more of public questions and answers. The prosecutors in the Senate trial were all involved in the House investigation. But, while all that provides a foundation for the trial, it doesn't alleviate the need for extensive preparation. For starters, Brock has a new lawyer.
Prosecutors have a new role.
Both sides will need to interview potential new witnesses, and may need to re-depose old ones. Because the charges against Brock are complex, so must be the trial strategies both sides develop. One observer told the Monitor's Lisa Wangsness that preparation in a case like Brock's could take up to a year. That's neither possible nor advisable here, but the consequences of severely shortchanging this process would be serious indeed. The impeachment of a Pennsylvania judge seven years ago is still playing out in court because of allegations that the process itself was not fair.