To avoid a First Amendment fight. Generally speaking, gag orders are on less sure footing than most people realize; they really do run up against prior restraint concerns. There's actually a fair amount of legal debate over them but the vast majority of defendants don't have the wherewithal, or a compelling reason, to really fight them; Trump does. So judges are likely leery of issuing too broad a gag order on him for fear of being overturned, which they never want anyway, and thereby setting a precedent that weakens all judges' ability to issue future gag orders.
Thank you for this explanation. I think it is important context to the discussion that needs to be spread far and wide so everyone better understands the legal calculus rather than getting mad because they think the judicial system is taking it easy on him.
They apparently realize the implicit dangers of making a martyr out of a moron. It seems like the prevailing wisdom is to continue to give him enough tether to hang himself. For the record, I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that strategy, but I do understand it.
The judge always has a duty to avoid appellate issues and therefore judges tend to be very lenient to make sure this case is done for good at the end of the court process.
And just because ppl say this is a trump thing, NO. Sam Bankman-Fried, is one of a lot of other prominent cases where they have been swaths of leniency as well.
I bet there is going to be a "fundraising email" in my spam folder violating this order... lemmie check, brb. (I somehow got on the trump spam list years ago and they send between 3-4 emails (or more) a day trying to grift.)
..
Not yet. I'll add to this comment when and if it arrives.
Judge Arthur Engoron issued the order, which applies to all parties in the case and pertains only to verbal attacks on court staff.
Engoron had suggested on Monday that testimony about Trump’s 2011 financial statement might be beyond the legal time limit applicable to Attorney General James’ lawsuit.
A lawyer for James’ office, Kevin Wallace, went on to suggest that he was using the 2011 document to show that Trump’s financial statements were prepared in the same manner — giving him and his company the final say over the valuations that appeared — for at least a decade.
Donald Bender, an accountant who prepared the financial statements for years, testified that Trump’s company supplied the numbers that went into the documents.
While grumbling that he’d rather be on the campaign trail, the Republican former president and 2024 GOP front-runner has used the waiting cameras in a courthouse hallway as a microphone for political messaging.
James scored an early victory when Engoron, a Democrat, ruled last week that Trump committed fraud by exaggerating the size of his penthouse at Trump Tower, claiming his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida was worth as much as $739 million and putting similar oversized valuations on office towers, golf courses and other assets.
The original article contains 937 words, the summary contains 206 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!