Judge Engoron Stay Cool
That is what kids say, stay cool. Be steadfast. That is why Judge Engoron will do exactly that and stick to the law in Donald Trump’s fraud case, and not be distracted by his politicking harassment. Who knows? Judge Engoron might even come up with his own precedent.
If I’m not mistaken, precedents in law adapt to changing circumstances, especially in common law. The U.S. was a British colony so some strands of American law might be based on common law. Precedents are set by judges. An issue comes before a judge but it’s new, novel. For example, drug lords don’t dirty their hands. They hire professional killers to take care of ‘problems.’ If a hired assassin is caught and says a drug lord gave him the assignment to kill a competitor, who committed the murder, the assassin or the drug lord?
How a judge arrives at his judgement becomes a precedent. Attorneys and prosecutors will refer to it in future, should something similar land on their laps. Maybe this hired assassin case is not a good example because it’s criminal law.
I’m using it as an example because I don’t understand the precedent being set about gag order violation in Donald Trump’s civil case. The reasoning is that something like this has never happened before, where the defendant is a presidential candidate. U.S. legal minds have already established that if he had been an ordinary American citizen, he would be behind bars by now, but Judge Engoron did not take that route, before Trump appealed.
If the Appeals Court rules in Trump’s favor, will that set a precedent that can be used by future Trump look-alikes, or even Trump himself in future gag order violations? Precedents are set by new situations, and the internet is a ‘new’ situation in this case.
Nonqaba waka Msimang
Executive Blogger
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