(TargetLiberty.org) – On Tuesday, a New York appeals court upheld the gag order on former President Donald Trump’s New York hush money case.
Judge Juan Merchan had originally placed the gag order on Trump to block him from making any public comments about the court staff, prosecutors, jurors, witnesses, and even the family of the judge. However, the gag order does not protect Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), and Merchan and Trump are still able to make public comments about them.
Trump has repeatedly slammed the gag order against him arguing that it is violating his First Amendment rights and that it is blocking him from being able to respond to high-profile witnesses and others who have launched attacks against him.
The five-judge panel’s decisions noted that Merchan had properly determined the threat posed by Trump’s comments to potential witnesses in the case. They further draw a comparison between the gag order Merchan has imposed and the one in Trump’s federal election interference case, determining that the gag order should be allowed to stand.
The District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously also found that the gag order should be allowed to remain in place.
The five-judge panel’s role is that considering these concerns the circuit court would ultimately conclude that considering the record the court had a duty to ensure that there would not be an atmosphere of intimidation that could potentially block trial staff and participants from performing their functions properly within the trial process.
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