Noted attorney Alan Dershowitz blasted the New York Court of Appeals Tuesday after it upheld a gag order against former President Donald Trump.
New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed an expanded gag order on April 1 after Trump criticized the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, in multiple posts on Truth Social, including one linking to a New York Post report on Loren Merchan’s firm helping Democratic causes raise $93 million off Trump’s indictment in the case. Dershowitz criticized the court on “The Dershow” for claiming in the decision to let the gag order stand that there was “no constitutional issue” raised by Trump’s appeal.
“I want to complain again about the New York Court of Appeals,” Dershowitz said. “They said there was no constitutional issue, no constitutional issue, when you have prior restraint against a man running for president. You know, we’ve been in existence almost 250 years. It’s hard to imagine, in 250 years, a clearer violation of the Constitution than a prior restraint against a man running for president of the United States prohibiting… him from complaining about the judge’s daughter, a law clerk, some witnesses, jurors, he’s entitled to that. More importantly, we’re entitled to that. We’re entitled to hear his points of view on that.”
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Dershowitz then targeted the Connecticut Bar Association over a Friday release in which it claimed that calling Trump’s trial which resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts a “sham” or describing it as “rigged” or “corrupt” had “no place in the public discourse.”
“I haven’t decided who to vote for,” Dershowitz said. “I want to hear from Donald Trump. I want to hear what he has to say about the trial. I want to hear what people involved in the trial have to say. I want a debate. I want a discussion. I want a marketplace of ideas. I don’t want the New York courts to shut the marketplace of ideas, and I don’t want the Connecticut bar to shut the marketplace of ideas.”
“Nothing is more important than freedom of speech, particularly during a presidential election, but we’re not getting that,” Dershowitz continued. “We’re getting the district attorney of New York using a criminal prosecution has a sword and then using a gag order as a shield against criticism. It’s utterly unfair and it’s utterly unconstitutional and if the New York Court of Appeals doesn’t think there’s a constitutional issue involved in prior restraint against the man running for president, come to my class in constitutional, criminal law. Come to my First Amendment class. Read my First Amendment writings, listen to my podcast, I think… read the First Amendment! Read the First Amendment!”
Featured image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Dershow
