What did Donald Trump do today?

He lost two major court battles to keep his criminal actions and convictions unofficial.

In the space of a few hours tonight, Trump was handed two legal defeats. The first came in the form of a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that there was no legal basis to prevent a New York state court from sentencing him for the 34 felonies he was convicted of last May. This will make Trump's convictions official, meaning that he will be the first president to be a convicted felon. 

Under normal circumstances, Trump would be the envy of the country's criminal class. The judge in the case, Juan Marchan, has indicated he will not impose any punishment. Not only that, but having the conviction official means that Trump can pursue appeals, something that cannot be done until sentencing. Trump has essentially admitted to every element of the crimes—except the extramarital sexual affair with a porn actress at the center of them—and has instead insisted that he had a special right to do as he did, even though he was not even president at the time the criminal acts were committed.

One of the justices who took Trump's side, Samuel Alito, had spoken with him earlier in the week and asked him to hire a former clerk as a White House staffer.

Later in the evening, a second decision went against Trump. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Justice Department could release special prosecutor Jack Smith's two-volume report into Trump's activities related to his illegal retention and mishandling of extremely sensitive classified documents, and his involvement in the conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election. Smith was required by law to make such reports, but the federal judge in the documents case, Aileen Cannon, issued an order barring the release of the reports. Tonight's order overrules Cannon and paves the way for at least the volume related to the coup attempt to be made public.

Cannon was a Trump appointee and is widely regarded within Trump's orbit as a likely candidate for promotion to the same appeals court that overruled her, if not the Supreme Court. She was also discussed as an attorney general nominee. Trump's attorneys in this case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, are two of the three Trump criminal defense attorneys who he has nominated to occupy the top positions in federal law enforcement. Pam Bondi, his replacement nominee for attorney general, is the third.

Why does this matter?

• It is more important that the truth come out than that a president not be embarrassed by the crimes he has been convicted of.

• A president who puts his personal criminal defense lawyers in charge of law enforcement, while there are still pending criminal charges against him, is showing what his priorities are.

• Just because the extremely rich and powerful often get treatment that the rest of us could never dream of in criminal courts doesn't mean it's okay.