Resist Pressure and Judge Firmly in Trump Trial

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in November’s presidential election, appeared in a New York courtroom where he is embroiled in a trial related to an adulterous affair. A jury is expected render a verdict by June.

Regardless of whether or not this case involves someone seeking to lead a superpower again who has gone down the wrong path, the court must resist pressure and judge firmly.

Trump was indicted for falsifying business records in a conspiracy involving hush money payments made to cover up an illicit affair just prior to the November 2016 presidential election 2016 election. Trump is also facing an indictment connected to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in an alleged effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election and threatening state officials in southern Georgia.

In addition, Trump faces criminal charges under the U.S. Espionage Act and additional counts connected to taking a large number of classified documents including documents related to nuclear weapons.

In an unprecedented situation, Trump is the first former president to be criminally indicted, and he claims that it is complete “political persecution” by President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, his rivals. His supporters have responded with calls for donations, and they have raised several million dollars at each indictment and arraignment.

Trump’s supporters agree with Trump’s claims because Americans distrust the judiciary system.

A U.S. survey found that nearly 70% of Republican supporters believe the Trump camp’s claim that Biden “did not legitimately win enough votes to win the presidency.” Courts found there was no evidence to support Trump’s claim and rejected the allegations.

There is no guarantee of political neutrality in the U.S., and prosecutors and judges are divided into liberal and conservative groups; the deepening antagonism between both sides is accelerating the rift between U.S. citizens. A University of Chicago survey reported last year that only 18% of respondents expressed “a great deal of confidence in the [Supreme] Court,” the lowest level of confidence since the poll’s inception in 1973.

The blame for this result lies in part on Trump’s incitive political tactics. During his presidency, he nominated only conservative Supreme Court justices. The Court, unbalanced politically among the nine justices, continues to render decisions that lean conservative, including the reversal of 50-year-old precedent recognizing a woman’s right to seek an abortion.

The Trump trial is getting attention ahead of the election both domestically and internationally. If the court does not take a resolute position and fails to pursue judgments with reasoning that both conservatives and liberals can agree on, its prestige and credibility will inevitably be eroded.