A Manhattan jury's decision to convict Donald Trump of falsifying business records to break federal election law is being heralded by The Usual Suspects as a moment in which "No one is above the law." Indeed, both prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges, and Judge Juan Merchan, who acted as a member of the prosecution, have proven that they themselves are above the law and can act well outside legal boundaries because no one will set boundaries for them.
The events afterward confirmed my fears, as Democratic prosecutors, both state and federal, have indicted Trump for various alleged offenses, all done in state and federal districts dominated by Democratic Party voters, almost guaranteeing juries that consist of mostly, if not all, Democrats.
The gist of the case was as follows: Bragg alleged that by arranging for Stormy Daniels to receive $130,000 in exchange for being quiet about her having sex with Trump, the way the payments were entered into his business records amounted to falsification of those records, which normally is a misdemeanor under New York State law.
The law Bragg alleges was broken is federal law, and the Biden Department of Justice already decided not to prosecute Trump on that charge.
The facts may be clear, but the law is anything but - and that could very well mean that the jury convicts Trump before the election, an appeals court reverses the conviction after the election, and millions of Americans, many of them non-MAGA, face yet another crisis of confidence in American institutions.
If Trump is convicted, his conviction could well survive on appeal.
Our court system does not exist to guarantee political results, no matter how much one might want Trump to lose the election.
Defeating Trump with an assist from a criminal prosecution that falls apart on appeal would exacerbate the mistrust that helped make Trump president in the first place and sustains his hold on the Republican Party.
This is not the only case Democratic prosecutors have brought against Trump and given the political dynamics and the makeup of potential juries, Trump well could be convicted in any or all of those cases.
Even if SCOTUS were to overturn the New York guilty verdict, it cannot declare Trump not guilty, but only remand the case back to trial with new instructions and limitations.
Given the political dynamics, one can see Bragg looking for other ways to bring criminal charges against Trump in never-ending legal warfare.
https://mises.org/mises-wire/dont-listen-elites-trumps-conviction-not-victory-rule-law
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