Maddow Blog | Supreme Court declines to lift Trump’s gag order in New York case

In July, just a few days after President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid, as Democrats rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 candidacy, Donald Trump turned his attention to something unexpected.

In a rant published to his social media platform, the Republican condemned a gag order imposed on him months earlier in his criminal case in New York, slamming the order as “unconstitutional.” The then-candidate went to claim that the order was “interfering” with his candidacy — he didn’t say how or why — and suggested the gag order was part of an electoral conspiracy.

“Can this really be allowed to stand?” Trump concluded. The answer, evidently, is yes. The Washington Post reported:

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to lift the gag order placed on President-elect Donald Trump that bars him from talking about people involved in his New York criminal trial that resulted in his conviction for trying to influence the 2016 election. The justices did not offer a rationale for why they were keeping in place the order by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the trial in which Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of making hush money payments to an adult-film actress to keep her quiet about their sexual relationship.

In case anyone needs a refresher, It was in April when Judge Merchan first imposed a gag order on the then-GOP candidate in his hush-money/falsifying-business-records case. Trump responded soon after by going after the judge’s daughter — publicly and repeatedly — which led to a revised gag order.

The Republican was told he could still talk publicly about much of the case — at the time, he spoke of little else — but among other things, the criminal defendant was told to refrain from making public statements related to jurors and witnesses.

When Trump played fast and loose with the boundaries, he was held in contempt and faced financial penalties in the form of thousands of dollars in fines.

While a jury ultimately found the defendant guilty on 34 counts, the defendant and his attorneys have continued to challenge the legality of the gag order, though each of those efforts have failed.

As for Trump’s underlying claim that gag orders are unconstitutional, no court has ever reached such a conclusion. When accused criminals are out on bond, they have to meet a variety of conditions, including refraining from making public comments that might interfere with the judicial proceedings. It’s pretty standard stuff.

The president-elect would have Americans believe that he’s some kind of victim. Those claims have never made any sense, and they apparently didn’t generate much sympathy from the U.S. Supreme Court.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

Image Credits and Reference: https://www.yahoo.com/news/maddow-blog-supreme-court-declines-211303863.html