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When Judge Tanya Chutkan wrongfully placed President Trump under a gag order, the integrity of our election system and our judicial system were threatened in one fell swoop. A gag order is a type of prior restraint, which in other contexts would be “presumptively invalid” under Supreme Court precedents. Trump immediately vowed to appeal, correctly pointing out that this gag order interferes with democracy.
Judge Tanya Chutkan repeats the mantra that Trump will not be treated any differently from any other defendant, but no other defendant is constantly and unfairly vilified by the liberal media as Trump is. Judge Chutkan made no effort to censor any of Trump’s critics, yet unconstitutionally prohibited Trump from defending himself as he campaigns. As you might expect, the delusional Deep State immediately began plotting to imprison Trump for supposedly violating an unlawful restraint on his speech. However, prison or no, the gag order immediately harmed all Americans by interfering with Trump’s campaign.
Judge Chutkan took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and that includes protecting the First Amendment rights of Trump and all Americans. The weaponization of the federal government against Trump and others is an issue in the presidential campaign, and all Americans have a First Amendment right to hear what Trump has to say about it.
An impartial presiding judge is essential to due process. Yet the Obama-appointed judge praised the prosecutors of Trump as “public servants who are simply doing their jobs,” displaying her bias in favor of a team of prosecutors who were just admonished by a different federal judge in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Judge Chutkan is wrong to preside over Trump’s case while praising and defending his prosecutors. Jack Smith, the taxpayer-funded biased prosecutor who has wasted many millions on interfering with the political process, may dislike being criticized but the First Amendment requires allowing it.
Impartiality is a hallmark of any respectable judicial process. For Donald Trump and others who would be targeted by powerful people for speaking unapologetically, impartiality must be restored to the federal courts.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/constitution/judge-chutkans-impartiality-problem/
