Former President Donald Trump is still subject to the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan which now that the trial has ended, legal experts are crying foul claiming its blatantly unconstitutional.
Trump had a gag order imposed on him before the NYC hush money trial even began and a New York appeals court on Tuesday decided not to remove the gag order despite the trial being over.
Trump’s legal team appealed the gag order ruling to New York’s highest court but they decided to dismiss the appeal “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.” His lawyers argued Trump’s “core political speech on matters of central importance at the height of his presidential campaign, where he is the leading candidate, and thus it violates the fundamental right of every American voter to hear” from him “on matters of enormous public importance.”
Trump currently awaits sentencing on July 11th for the 34 guilty counts of falsifying business records.
“President Trump and his legal team will continue to fight against the unconstitutional Gag Order imposed by Justice Merchan,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign.
“The Gag Order wrongfully silences the leading candidate for President of the United States, President Trump, at the height of his campaign. The Gag Order applies only to President Trump and not to any of his political opponents, critics, or even Crooked Joe Biden,” he said in the statement. “The Election Interfering Gag Order violates the First Amendment rights of President Trump and all American voters, who have a fundamental right to hear his message.”
According to Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington University, “You have a local New York judge effectively limiting what the leading presidential candidate can say in the months leading up to an election. The continuation of the gag order seems untethered from any compelling rationale, particularly in light of the election,”
Turley expressed deep concerns “that Judge Merchan would continue a gag order long after the verdict has been reached and the jury dismissed the case. Putting aside the questionable value of the continuation of the gag order, in this case, Judge Merchan is ignoring the countervailing cost for the political system.”
Trump’s legal team will continue to appeal these rulings as fast as possible.