If you’ve been paying attention for even like a second of the last eight years or so, you’ve probably concluded that Donald Trump poses a massive risk to the rule of law and democracy. Whether it’s the four separate felony cases pending against him, the whole light insurrection thing, or his promise to be a dictator if reelected — but only for a day, and when has an admitted dictator ever lied to the public, amirite?
Now, exactly zero of these concerns have anything to do with the (disastrous) policies and programs — like child separation, politicizing the Department of Justice and the FBI, his terrible judicial nominees, handling of the coronavirus pandemic, eroding of reproductive rights — that he instituted in his first term (never mind what he has in store should he win the 2024 election). So theoretically, they should be divorced from politics — that’s probably not the case, but it *should* be. On Friday, a panel at the American Bar Association’s white collar crime conference issued a reminder of that fact.
As reported by Law360, moderator Morris “Sandy” Weinberg of Zuckerman Spaeder warned that the country as facing “an existential threat to the criminal justice system and the rule of law.” Which… no shit. But, I suppose it does bear repeating.
“The former president and others have railed for years about the supposed lack of integrity and legitimacy in our criminal justice system,” he said. “These attacks have questioned every part of the criminal justice system,” including law enforcement, agents, prosecutors, juries and even judges, the moderator added.
“You’ve heard that, against him and others, that the judges in most of his cases are biased against him and others,” Weinberg said. “And that the likely juries will be biased because they come from areas that voted against him.”
Biglaw attorney Neil Eggleston of Kirkland noted that Trump’s tearing down of institutions is a calculated move to absolve himself before he’s held accountable:
“What he’s essentially done is tried to break down all the institutions that might hold him accountable,” Eggleston said. “Because then, when he’s held accountable, he can say it was no big deal, it was all political.”
Even former attorney for Rudy Giuliani, Jon Sale of Nelson Mullins, sees the potential for danger ahead:
“Now, there is an existential threat to our democracy,” Sale said. “And I believe as the eternal optimist that it’s the courts that are going to save us. But we all have an obligation to make sure we make that happen.”
Consider the alarm bell good and rung… now we just need to *do* something about it.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.