Legal reporter shreds Trump judge’s 'inappropriate' sermonizing about Alvin Bragg’s politics

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19 April 2023

'Going full fascist': Morning Joe blasts Trump’s latest 'dehumanizing' attack on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

On Tuesday, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump swatted down Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's motion to quash a subpoena from House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) compelling testimony from Mark Pomerantz, a former employee in the prosecutor's office.

Her ruling outraged Mark Joseph Stern, a legal reporter who analyzes judicial opinions for Slate.

"Mary Kay Vyskocil is the same Trump judge who blocked Karen McDougal from suing Fox News for defamation after Tucker Carlson falsely claimed that McDougal extorted Trump for hush money," wrote Stern in a series of tweets on Wednesday. "Also a Federalist Society member for many years, for those who note such things."

In particular, Stern took umbrage at the following passage in Vyskocil's ruling: "[Bragg] is an elected prosecutor in New York County with constituents, some of whom wish to see Bragg wield the force of law against the former President and a current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Jordan, in turn, has initiated a political response to what he and some of his constituents view as a manifest abuse of power and nakedly political prosecution, funded (in part) with federal money, that has the potential to interfere with the exercise of presidential duties and with an upcoming federal election. The Court does not endorse either side's agenda."

"This entire paragraph is really inappropriate — why is the judge going out of her way to say that Bragg is 'elected' and has an 'agenda'?" wrote Stern. "Or to say that Jim Jordan views the Trump prosecution as 'a manifest abuse of power and nakedly political prosecution'?"

Ultimately, Stern acknowledged, it's a difficult case on the merits because, "under Trump, the Supreme Court made an absolute mess of the law in this area." However, he concluded, "the implication of this opinion is that Bragg is a partisan hack who launched a witch hunt against Trump and thinks he's 'above the law.'"

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