Seymour Flops
Diamond Member
Behind the scenes, a maze of arcane rules and archaic systems has made it virtually impossible for the media — and the public — to access key motions and pretrial rulings in real time. New York’s docketing practices have not been updated for the digital age. The judge, Justice Juan Merchan, has imposed policies that force days or even weeks of delays before crucial documents become public. When they do, they have been subject to a heavy, court-imposed redaction process.
And Merchan frequently uses email to communicate with Trump’s defense lawyers and the prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. That’s led to a ballooning set of off-the-book messages that are shielded from the public.
Secret messages between the judge and the prosecutors, gag orders for an active political candidate, heavy redactions with no oversight as to what is kept secret and limiting access to information about the trial all seem like things you would find in "developing" nations, not the United States.
For one thing, New York state criminal court simply doesn’t have an online docket; the only way to see many documents filed in the case is by visiting the clerk’s office in person in Lower Manhattan or requesting each filing from either the district attorney’s office or Trump’s lawyers. And while the judge publicly set some deadlines for certain filings, others happen without warning, meaning anyone interested in seeing it wouldn’t know to request it.
Yeah, if New York does not have a 21st century court system, then they have no business putting a 21st century president on trial.
And Merchan frequently uses email to communicate with Trump’s defense lawyers and the prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. That’s led to a ballooning set of off-the-book messages that are shielded from the public.
Secret messages between the judge and the prosecutors, gag orders for an active political candidate, heavy redactions with no oversight as to what is kept secret and limiting access to information about the trial all seem like things you would find in "developing" nations, not the United States.
For one thing, New York state criminal court simply doesn’t have an online docket; the only way to see many documents filed in the case is by visiting the clerk’s office in person in Lower Manhattan or requesting each filing from either the district attorney’s office or Trump’s lawyers. And while the judge publicly set some deadlines for certain filings, others happen without warning, meaning anyone interested in seeing it wouldn’t know to request it.
Yeah, if New York does not have a 21st century court system, then they have no business putting a 21st century president on trial.
