OPINION:
Elaborating on “Judge Merchan’s constitutional crisis” (web, May 8), it’s important to note that the judge has already created a constitutional crisis by allowing the case against former President Donald Trump — a felony case predicated on some nebulous allusion to an unspecified violation of federal election laws — to proceed.
This completely trashes the Sixth Amendment requirement that an accused “be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation” against him or her. Worse yet, under our system of law, as Mr. Trump has not been convicted of any violation of federal election law related to ledger entries for legal expenses, he is presumed innocent of any violation of federal election law related to the New York state business code.
If Judge Juan Merchan had any interest in following judicial procedure and the Constitution, he would have dismissed all felony charges based on District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s failure to establish any conviction for a crime related to federal election law that would support felony charges under New York state law. But Judge Merchan allows the political persecution to continue although there is no law requiring the exposition of a candidate’s escapades, no law barring nondisclosure agreements and no law prohibiting political campaigns from influencing elections, because that is what campaigns do.
WILLIAM T. FIDURSKI
Clark, New Jersey
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