Commonwealth Policy Center

On Thursday, Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records – normally considered misdemeanors, but elevated to felonies by controversial New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg. According to the latest Ipsos poll, 52% of Americans agreed that the rule of law was upheld by the prosecution. 45% say the prosecution was politically motivated. These numbers fall along party lines. Those on the right point out that New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg ran on the platform of taking Trump to Court—even though enforcing federal election law is outside his jurisdiction. (Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice previously refused to prosecute Trump). Presiding Judge Juan Merchon’s objectivity was disputed after it was discovered he made a small donation to President Biden and a far left political activist group called ActBlue and their GOTV effort to defeat Republicans in 2020. Merchon denied Trump’s defense to call as a witness former Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioner Bradley Smith to testify about campaign expenditure rules. There were other problems with the case, including the vagueness of the state statute and Bragg giving the jury three charges to choose from without requiring unanimity on any single charge. As a result, legal experts believe Trump’s chances of an overturned verdict on appeal are strong. All citizens regardless of political affiliation should support the rule of law. But the rule of law respects proper jurisdiction, upholds due process, removes judicial bias and prosecutorial political motives. When our legal system fails to do this, we all lose.