Judge Chutkan Gags Donald Trump – WSJ

Mr. Trump can certainly claim he s being unfairly prosecuted, Judge Chutkan said during the hearing, according to the Journal s report. But I cannot imagine any other criminal case in which a defendant is permitted to call the prosecutor deranged, or a thug, and I will not permit it here simply because the defendant is running a political campaign.

She s right that no court would put up with Mr. Trump s broadsides if he were any old defendant. To protest the New York civil fraud case against him, Mr. Trump this month posted a picture of the judge s clerk next to Sen. Chuck Schumer, while mocking her as Schumer s girlfriend. That resulted in a gag order focused on court personnel. Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances, the judge said.

Yet there also has never been a criminal defendant like Mr. Trump, who remains, in spite of it all, the leading political opponent of the sitting President. Judge Chutkan s written gag order hadn t arrived by our deadline, but during the hearing she appeared to be cutting it mighty fine.

Mr. Trump will be permitted to attack former Vice President Mike Pence, who s running against him, but he may not criticize Mr. Pence about the events in this case, she said, according to the Washington Post. Hang on: If Mr. Trump shows up to the next Republican primary debate, on Nov. 8, he has to say no comment if Mr. Pence pushes him about Jan. 6?

That sounds like core political speech and different from insults toward court functionaries. The same goes for special counsel Jack Smith, who s a political figure in his own right, and who shouldn t be immune from criticism. If Judge Chutkan thinks it s over the line for the defendant to call Mr. Smith a thug, what about saying he s politically motivated ? Mr. Trump pledged to appeal the gag order, and the First Amendment questions aren t frivolous.

via www.wsj.com

This sounds like a hypothetical in an advanced constitutional law class. One can say nearly all Trump’s speech is political and favor no gag order, but one should hardly put up with powerful political figures intimidating courts with inflammatory rhetoric either. That is a shortcut to rule by demagogue.