‘1-800-THE-DONALD’?
As President Trump’s trial gets under way, New York’s high court comes in with a ringing defense of due process for criminal defendants — even those with dubious reputations.
The reversal by New York’s top court of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction comes at a dramatic moment, as the district attorney of New York County commences its trial of President Trump. New York’s top court found Weinstein’s due process rights were violated by a judge whose rulings, the defense said, created a spirit of “1-800-GET-HARVEY.” Now an even more famous defendant, Donald Trump, is in the dock and a similar spirit prevails.
Let us mark that we carry no brief for either Weinstein or Mr. Trump. We do, however, carry a brief for their rights to constitutional due process — “equal justice under law,” as it says on the pediment of the Supreme Court. That is the issue in both cases. The Court of Appeals is right as rain to be particular on this head. The news this morning can be taken as a flashing yellow light to Justice Juan Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
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