Federal Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order against Donald Trump in the classified documents case, saying that prosecutors’ request was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.”
Even if you don’t like Trump, procedural fairness is important. You aren’t supposed to just ignore procedure when it comes to a defendant being criminally prosecuted. There has been a trend of more and more procedural fairness being ignored because prosecutors know they can get away with it and it will be meaningless on appeal. The judge had to rule this way and if she hadn’t she would have been a horrible judge. What is sad is that it actually had to be appealed to get to the level of normal procedural fairness. Even very awful people are supposed to get fair procedure in the US. The time procedure and fairness matter most is when someone is being deprived of liberty, that’s when you want the rules to be fair, not broken. What would have been a better ruling? If she said “Eh, it’s fine, the prosecutors can do whatever and it won’t matter on appeal anyway because of the harmless error rule.” Gag orders should also be illegal. The First Amendment was not supposed to be some weak idea that occasionally let’s people speak their views. It’s supposed to protect people like Trump who many people think have detestable speech.
Also, I hate Trump’s views on Trans people and his treatment towards those who are different or he perceives as different. I have never voted for Trump. Give this judge a break, that was a good ruling.
Even if you don’t like Trump, procedural fairness is important. You aren’t supposed to just ignore procedure when it comes to a defendant being criminally prosecuted. There has been a trend of more and more procedural fairness being ignored because prosecutors know they can get away with it and it will be meaningless on appeal. The judge had to rule this way and if she hadn’t she would have been a horrible judge. What is sad is that it actually had to be appealed to get to the level of normal procedural fairness. Even very awful people are supposed to get fair procedure in the US. The time procedure and fairness matter most is when someone is being deprived of liberty, that’s when you want the rules to be fair, not broken. What would have been a better ruling? If she said “Eh, it’s fine, the prosecutors can do whatever and it won’t matter on appeal anyway because of the harmless error rule.” Gag orders should also be illegal. The First Amendment was not supposed to be some weak idea that occasionally let’s people speak their views. It’s supposed to protect people like Trump who many people think have detestable speech.
Also, I hate Trump’s views on Trans people and his treatment towards those who are different or he perceives as different. I have never voted for Trump. Give this judge a break, that was a good ruling.