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Jack Smith Asks Court To Jail Trump If He Keeps Yapping About Witnesses
(www.huffpost.com)
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this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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The reason judges aren't putting Trump immediately in jail for violating a gag order is that they don't usually put other people immediately in jail for violating gag orders. They usually fine other people several thousand dollars for the first violation, with an even bigger fine for the second violation.
I know we all want to see Trump in jail, but it doesn't take a special theory to understand why he isn't there yet.
And if there are enough violations to finally provoke a judge into jailing Trump, that judge will give zero fracks about a "protocol for secret service interaction", because judges don't run jails. That will be the jail administrator's problem.
I agree with your points, but Trump's violations endanger people's lives in a way no one else has. He bad mouths them and he has 100,000 crazies ready to harm those people and their families, and millions of others who would support the action. It can't and shouldn't simply be treated like everyone else. That flies in the face of equal treatment under the law, but only because there's no one else in the U.S. who has been in a similar situation.
You may be right. But if the judge said he "shouldn't simply be treated like everyone else" then that would basically guarantee that his rulings would be overturned on appeal. Our SCOTUS is waiting for the judge to slip up like that.
In our legal system, the only way to hold Trump accountable is to treat him like everyone else. That's why everyone is playing it by the books.
@ZoopZeZoop is right, but also a little bit wrong. Trump’s violations endanger people’s lives in a way few others have, but there is precedent.
Specifically, they need to be treating Trump like the mafia boss that he is.
They should fine him a percentage of his (claimed) net worth.
That would be amusing, but it's not how US judges usually impose fines so they aren't going to start doing it now.
One argument against using net worth is that someone could claim a very low net worth and escape a heavy fine. After all, calculating net worth is not straightforward (note that the previously claimed net worth is not necessarily the current net worth). Of course, the judge could open an investigation into the actual net worth in order to determine the fine. But that would take time and now the original trial would be delayed - which is what Trump wants. Not only that, but (unlike a standardized fine) a determination of net worth would open multiple avenues to appeal, meaning further delay. So in most cases the process would likely be more trouble than it's worth.