A federal judge Thursday accused defense attorneys of a “late-breaking” attempt to delay the trial of the businessman accused of bribing then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo, calling a recent appeal “frivolous” and saying it all seemed “like a farce and a stunt.”

U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger said the trial of James T. Weiss, set to begin Monday, “will roll forward.” 

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

The harsh rulings followed days of uncertainty over whether Weiss’ trial will commence more than 2 ¹⁄₂ years after his indictment in the case that brought down Arroyo and outed then-state Sen. Terry Link as a government cooperator. 

Weiss allegedly paid Arroyo $32,500 over more than a year to promote and vote for legislation in the Illinois General Assembly related to unregulated gambling devices known as “sweepstakes” machines. When the legislation didn’t pass, they allegedly tried to bribe Link, who turned out to be cooperating with federal investigators. 

Arroyo was charged in October 2019. Weiss was charged in a federal grand jury indictment handed up a year later. Arroyo pleaded guilty and is now serving a 57-month prison sentence handed down last year by Seeger.

The judge called Arroyo a “dirty politician who was on the take.”

In November 2022, Seeger set Weiss’ trial for Monday. Then in April, defense attorneys Ilia Usharovich and Sheldon Sorosky asked the judge to dismiss the charges against Weiss, invoking the U.S. Constitution’s “Speech or Debate Clause,” which protects members of Congress against interference by other branches of the federal government.

In a written opinion Thursday, Seeger wrote flatly that Weiss’ argument “doesn’t get off the ground.”

“The Speech or Debate Clause protects federal legislators, not state legislators,” Seeger wrote. 

“And in any event,” he added, “Weiss cannot invoke any privilege of a legislator because he isn’t a legislator.” 

Seeger initially signaled his intent to deny Weiss’ motion during a hearing May 17. Usharovich and Sorosky then filed notice of their intent to appeal the ruling Monday — one week before Weiss’ trial was set to begin. 

In a six-page written ruling Thursday, Seeger blasted the defense attorneys and complained that, in an impromptu hearing Wednesday, they kept raising additional reasons for delaying the trial. 

“Maybe defense counsel isn’t ready for trial,” Seeger wrote. “Maybe they want more time to prepare. Or maybe Weiss wants to postpone the trial until the day after never. Who knows.”

The judge wrote that “sometimes parties make arguments for a good faith extension or change in the law. That’s not this case.” He wrote that “trial is a long time coming.” And “whatever reason Weiss may have for wanting to move the trial, the Speech or Debate Clause isn’t a good one.”