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Alvin Bragg and The Art of Not Taking Law Too Seriously

JonathanTurley

After the first week of testimony, the trial of Donald Trump is increasingly looking like a mad prosecution machine by lawyers who don’t take law too seriously. After all, the base charge is a simple misdemeanor under a New York law against falsifying business records. It was so implausible as to be impossible.

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The Trump Trial in Manhattan is an Indictment of the New York Legal System

JonathanTurley

No one seriously believes that Alvin Bragg would have spent this time and money to prosecute what is ordinarily a state misdemeanor if the defendant was anyone other than Trump. Here is the column: The famous Roman philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “The more laws, the less justice.”

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Subpoena Wars: Washington is on a Path to Mutually Assured Destruction

JonathanTurley

Below is my column in The Hill on the subpoena war raging in Washington as the Jan. The Navarro case is just one skirmish in a subpoena war engulfing Washington. These subpoena fights seem to be unfolding with little consideration given to the potential costs, either for Washington institutions or the individuals involved.

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The Closing: Trump’s Final Argument Must Be Clarity to Chaos in Merchan’s Courtroom

JonathanTurley

Trump’s lawyers are defending a former president who is charged under a state misdemeanor which died years ago under the statute of limitations. Three-legged Stool A classic closing pitch by lawyers is to use a physical object like a three-legged stool. If any leg is missing, the stool collapses.

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Democratic Governor Calls For Criminalizing “Lying” About Election Results

JonathanTurley

The same concerns were raised this week after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called for the criminalization of “lies” about election results. Such a law would threaten political speech and create a chilling effect for those who want to raise such concerns in contested elections. What does that even mean?

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Spring Break: Christie’s Prediction of a Trump Conviction by Spring Just Hit a Snag

JonathanTurley

In Georgia, a slew of former lawyers are taking pleas with promises to testify if called. Powell pleaded to misdemeanors for a deal that avoids jail time and preserves her ability to resume the practice of law. Moreover, she will seek to use the lawyers themselves to convict their client for listening to them.

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The Lawrence O’Donnell Factor: Will the Trump Jury Exercise Blind Justice or Willful Blindness?

JonathanTurley

Now it will be up to 12 New Yorkers to do what neither the court nor the prosecutors were willing to do: adhere to the rule of law regardless of the identity of the defendant. Merchan has allowed the government to bring back into life a dead misdemeanor and convert it into 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.