Donald Trump is labeled as a racist, rapist, misogynist, anti-Semite, Islamophobe, xenophobe, narcissist, fascist, protectionist, idiot, and overall bad guy. Even though it was posted, he was re-elected as president.
His tens of millions of supporters rejected all or most of these labels, which are, after all, mostly a matter of opinion. But they also dismissed the label as an undeniable fact. convicted felon.
Trump becomes the first person in the 248 years of the Republic to be elected president with a felony conviction. But not only did he receive far more than the 270 electoral votes needed to become the 47th president, he also won the national election. Popularity vote.
The prosecutor's office, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, is seeking to uphold the conviction despite the election results. asked for a postponement of sentencing until the end of Trump's term. Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers are arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed outright, citing the election.
Regardless of the outcome, many people now reflect on what they could have done differently or better. Near the top of that list are prosecutors, who need to sit up and take notice and reflect on what the election results mean about what they do, how they do things, and how the public perceives them.
As Attorney General at the time and later Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. explained Eighty years ago, a prosecutor “had more control over life, liberty, and reputation than anyone else in America. His discretion is incredible. At his best, a prosecutor was one of the most benevolent forces in our society.” Alone, if he acts out of malice or other base motives, he becomes one of the worst forces.”
As such, Jackson concluded, prosecutors must avoid the greatest potential abuse of power: “picking the people they think should be prosecuted rather than picking the cases that need to be prosecuted.” .
In other words, prosecutors are supposed to target acts, not people.
As Jackson pointed out, the reason is simple. “The law books are filled with a wide variety of crimes, so prosecutors have a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation in almost everyone's conduct. It's not a matter of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who committed the crime, but picking that man and looking at the law books, or sending investigators to find out what's wrong with him. please.”
In Jackson's view, this style of prosecution “poses the greatest danger of abuse of prosecutorial power.” …Law enforcement becomes personal here. ”
Not so long ago, a felony conviction would have made it impossible for someone to run for office, much less become president. Today we know that is not true. why? Simply put, the public has lost faith that prosecutors exercise their vast discretion fairly, based on conduct, not partisanship based on personal goals.
In the 2022 Gallup poll, 14 percent of those surveyed claimed to have a great deal of trust in the criminal justice system, a decrease of 6 percentage points from the previous year. Trust in the criminal justice system was behind people's trust in banks, the health care system, and even the news media.
It is impossible to escape the conclusion that this decline in trust was caused by the perception that prosecutorial decision-making was politically motivated. And let's be real. That conclusion has support on both sides.
For example, the FBI's actions during the 2016 campaign to launch an investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia without disclosing Their ultimate source of information was a report commissioned by the Clinton campaign, they complained in court, undermining the credibility of that investigation. On the other hand, Attorney General Bill Barr's actions during President Trump's first termManagement” and false statement Mueller investigation results and aftermath intervene In the prosecution of Roger Stone, they were overtly partisan in nature.
From 2021 to 2024, former President Trump was embroiled in lawsuits, investigations, indictments, and convictions, all of which were ignored by President-elect Trump's tens of millions of supporters in 2024. Indictment based on January 6th and his attempt withhold confidential documentsand a civil judgment against him. sexual assault and defamation.
Both sides have a point. Mr. Barr was rightly criticized for his actions. But on the other hand, is it a coincidence that it was New York Attorney General Letitia James (Democratic Party) who filed a civil complaint against Mr. Trump in connection with bank fraud charges in which bank representatives testified? There were no losses And did he believe that Trump's statements about his worth were subjective? Or that another Democratic New York prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, has indicted Trump on a felony charge that is usually charged as a misdemeanor and rarely carries a prison sentence?
What did the public think of former Clinton administration national security adviser Sandy Berger's indictment of Donald Trump with a felony for his reckless handling of classified government documents?Unlike Trump, Berger actually He took classified documents from the National Archives, hid them in socks and underwear, and destroyed them. allowed to plead for a misdemeanor?
From our perspective, the ultimate irony is that President Trump's most reprehensible act, inciting a violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, was blamed on Attorney General Merrick Garland. This means that the case will not be investigated in court completely. changes in advance after a delay, Perhaps they hope Trump is not re-elected. The delay in justice in this case amounts to a denial of justice, and more importantly, of history.
The January 6th outrage will now be dismissed without investigation, and President-elect Trump has expressed his determination as president-elect. prosecute his political opponents The nomination of a hard-line member of the former Florida attorney general as attorney general supports that idea. pam bondi the prosecutor's day of reckoning has arrived. Are they there to seek justice or retribution?
Are they impartial court officials or revenge-seeking partisans? Are they part of a never-ending cycle of political payback, or are they the guardians of a tradition set out by Justice Jackson long ago?
Prosecutors control the criminal justice system. Rather than the jury deciding the outcome, the jury decides, but within budget constraints, which crimes should be prosecuted in the interest of public safety and which are less important. To rebuild public trust in our criminal justice system, Bondi and other prosecutors in the coming years must work with the following in mind: jackson's wisdom“The public's safety lies in prosecutors who temper their enthusiasm with human kindness, pursue the truth rather than the victim, serve the law rather than partisan causes, and approach their duties with humility.''
They must understand that any prosecution against duly elected or appointed officials is a frustration of the will of the voters and should only be carried out in the most extreme cases. They must stand up to authority and be prepared to resign if the demands of their jobs do not fulfill their oath to seek impartial justice.
In our view, such an effort would be a welcome return to the ethics that have guided us, and the generations before and after us, in our service as prosecutors.
John J. Farmer Jr. is an assistant U.S. attorney for New Jersey. attorney generalsenior advisor to the 9/11 Commission and director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Charles B. McKenna served as an assistant U.S. attorney, senior U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
