Professor Jonathan Turley Says Alvin Bragg Conviction of Trump Probably Won’t Survive Appeal
“The celebrants would be wise to think twice before mounting this trophy kill on the political wall.”
Lots of people are saying this, but Turley goes into detail.
He writes at The Hill:
Bragg’s thrill kill in Manhattan could prove short-lived on appeal
The conviction of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan of 34 felonies produced citywide celebrations. This thrill-kill environment extended to the media, where former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it was “majestic day” and “a day to celebrate.” When I left the courthouse after watching the verdict come in, I was floored by the celebrations outside by both the public and some of the media.
The celebrants would be wise to think twice before mounting this trophy kill on the political wall. The Trump trial is a target-rich environment for an appeal, with multiple layers of reversible error, in my view.
I am less convinced by suggestions that the case could be challenged on the inability of Trump receiving a fair trial in a district that voted roughly 90 percent against him. The problem was not the jury, but the prosecutors and the judge.
Some of the most compelling problems can be divided into four groups.
The Judge
Acting Supreme Court justice Juan Merchan was handpicked for this case rather than randomly selected. This is only the latest in a litany of Trump cases where Merchan has meted out tough rulings against Trump and his organization. With any other defendant, there would likely be outrage over his selection. Merchan donated to President Biden. Even though the state bar cleared that violation based on the small size of the contribution, it later stressed that no such contributions were appropriate for a judge. We learned later that Merchan has contributed to a group to stop the GOP and Trump. Merchan’s daughter is also a Democratic organizer who has helped raise millions against Trump and the GOP and for the Democrats.
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Comments
Talk, talk, talk.
DO something.
Some people can do things and are doing so. Republican senators saying they’re going to obstruct the Senate is a legal thing they can do.
Be very very careful what you do in this moment. I am proud of all the people who DIDN’T make a demonstration at the courthouse. J6 showed us that that has no upside for us. Remember what Trump said, because I will never forgive him for it, even as I vote for him in November as the better of 2 alternatives. “I believe in law and order” as his J6 supporters were picked up off the streets and hauled into the dungeon.
thats what the left is counting on
continued “faith” in the gop who are mostly rinos
meanwhile the dems get to control the
process
narrative
schools
speech
weapons
etc
The celebrants would be wise to think twice before mounting this trophy kill on the political wall.
Indeed. If and when these convictions get overturned, this sham trial will taint any and all future legal actions the Democrats try to take against Trump. Trump’s team will forever be able to point back to this trial and claim that the Left is not acting in good faith.
As the saying goes, if you’re shooting at the king, you’d better not miss.
The best part is, Trump doesn’t even need to retaliate. The judicial system and the American public will do it for him, and the Left brought it on themselves.
I have to disagree. Even if it’s reversed on appeal, it’s still a conviction that they can say was reversed “on a technicality”. No matter the merits of the appeal, they can always say that and talk about Republican appointed appellate judges or whatever. The most we can do by appealing these convictions is to undo them. That proves nothing.
We have to put Dem politicians and esp. activists in prison. You think there’s some magic to playing defense. There isn’t if the other side knows that’s all you’ll do, and everything they do is a “free roll”.
You think there’s some magic to playing defense. There isn’t if the other side knows that’s all you’ll do, and everything they do is a “free roll”.
I didn’t say we shouldn’t retaliate. I said Trump doesn’t need to. He can let it go, but his followers shouldn’t; they should become every bit the activists as those who conspired to secure that “conviction” and take the “fight” to them.
I’m talking lawfare, investigations, impeachments, federal criminal charges. The whole nine yards. Secure convictions that eject them from power in disgrace and render them unqualified to wield it, permanently. And with every conviction, follow the chain of command up and impeach the next level, all the way to the top. Make the Left play defense for once and see what it’s like getting railroaded and steamrolled.
As others have pointed out, Trump is an avatar. They hate him not because of who he is, but because of who he represents: US. Everything they do to him, they would do to us if they had the time to persecute 100+ million people. We’d do best to keep that in mind.
But I maintain, Trump himself need not retaliate.
It can also be retried after it is reversed, and it will be.
It doesn’t matter if the convictions get overturned. They got what they wanted – Trump with a conviction. That’s all they cared about. It doesn’t matter what happens to Bragg or Merchan (or the jurors) now – they’ve done their job, and any legal or political repercussions will simply push them off to their media life a little early. The judicial isn’t even likely to give either of them any scrutiny, because it might lessen their power.
If there are no true dire consequences for this sort of travesty in a US court, it will happen again and again. And it will all go one way.
If Biden wins reelection, Justice Merchan will get a SCOTUS appointment.
Justice Merchan won’t miss. He knows the job he was selected to do. He isn’t stupid. He will impose a long sentence immediately on July 11, Trump will be sent upstate to break rocks in a remote prison near the Canadian border, and there is no way Trump can get it reversed or stayed unless SCOTUS takes the case directly, which is unlikely. Manhattan Appeals Division judges are elected, so they will do nothing until the election is over.
One thing is stopping Merchan: The US Secret Service is legally obligated to protect all former US Presidents and their immediate families to some extent, but particularly the Presidents and their wives at all times. Merchan could easily find his order for incarceration stayed immediately by a federal judge based on that jurisdictional manner. This happened to one of LBJ’s daughters during a traffic matter in Texas, where a local county mountie wanted to haul her in for some miscellaneous violation and the Secret Service came down on them like a ton of bricks. Wasn’t even a Republican county (those didn’t exist in Texas until ~1988), but a Dallas-based Nixon-appointed Northern District of Texas judge immediately signed the order. If I can find the link, I will so provide. Only have a newspaper clipping from 1972.
I’m sure Justice Merchan knows and expects the conviction to be overturned. He doesn’t care. It is all about timing, and he knows it can’t be overturned before the election. He didn’t jail Trump immediately on conviction because the Democratic Party needs the June 27 debate to take place, so they can be sure that their demented meat puppet can perform adequately when he is jacked up on the best drugs available. But Trump will be put away on July 11 and will stay in prison through the election.
Trump should seek both an immediate emergency appeal to SCOTUS and preserve his right to appeal thru the NY appellate courts
Poor Johnny Turley…he is ASSuming a New York Supreme Court Appeals Division court is going to be fair! New York State’s Judicial system has already established that’s it’s more polluted, corrupt, bought-and-paid-for than a Tijuana hooker.
Grow Up, Turley!!