OPINION:
A majority of Americans are happy with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to a recent Gallup survey. It’s time for Democrats — especially the ones who are Manhattan magistrates — to accept the public’s decision.
Juan Merchan, a Democratic Party donor and trial court judge, seeks to divert Mr. Trump’s attention from staffing the executive branch, derailing what has been until now a smooth transition. His honor has ordered the president-elect to participate in a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday.
While the judge signaled his “inclination” is not to jail Mr. Trump, this disruption still matters. The sole purpose of the proceeding is to consummate the branding of our former and future president as a felon. This childish objective serves no legitimate purpose.
Public approval of Mr. Trump’s performance leading up to the inauguration is up 7 percentage points compared with his first term because the incoming chief executive’s rollout of Cabinet-level appointee announcements has been methodical.
The personnel situation was far more chaotic in 2017 because Mr. Trump was distracted by false accusations that he was a Russian agent. Those charges were levied by government officials who abused the public trust to achieve political ends.
Judge Merchan is operating from the same distraction playbook, having arranged to have the Republican nominee found guilty of improperly labeling a ledger entry with a purported intent to “conceal a conspiracy to promote a presidential election by unlawful means.”
If Americans thought the charge had a shred of credibility, Mr. Trump would not have won reelection. For that reason alone, Judge Merchan needs to set his ego aside and realize there are more important issues at play.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the book that still governs how Congress conducts its business. In it, the Founding Father explained that lawmakers cannot be ordered to attend court hearings during legislative sessions because “a Member has superior duties to perform in another place.”
Jefferson describes as “evil” the idea of allowing a congressman to be summoned to court during a legislative session because “the 40,000 people whom he represents lose their voice in debate and vote.” Judge Merchan wants to silence the 341 million Americans Mr. Trump will represent in less than two weeks.
For 235 years, we could trust the courts not to abuse their power in this way. Now it’s clear that Congress must update the laws to prevent one of the nation’s 27,000 state trial court judges from realizing they, too, can sabotage an incoming administration.
If a president commits an actual crime — not an accounting violation twisted by a judge peddling a conspiracy theory — that’s a matter properly handled by the impeachment process. No one judge should ever have the power to disenfranchise millions of voters.
The Constitution holds the elected president accountable only to a political body that is, in turn, directly accountable to voters. The founders discouraged mischief by setting the bar high, requiring a supermajority vote of senators acting with a majority of House members to remove a rogue official.
In his recent ruling, Judge Merchan blasted Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, for branding the actions of the court as “unconstitutional” and “unlawful.” His honor explained, “Those words, by definition, mean ‘criminally punishable.’” Indeed.
If the Senate approves, Mr. Blanche will soon become deputy attorney general with sweeping ability to investigate criminal acts. This attorney’s experience with a broken system will come in handy when it’s time to investigate misconduct and recommend reforms.
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