By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
May 10, 2024 | The person with the hardest job in the nation these days may be the Hon. Juan M. Merchan, who is presiding in the New York criminal trial against former President Donald Trump.
The judge must be frustrated since Mr. Trump continually violates orders that the judge has imposed on Mr. Trump, time and time again threatening the integrity of the court, and possibly affecting the outcome of the case.
The latest infringement on the judge’s order drew a stern rebuke from the judge, who threatened to jail the former president from another outburst against his orders. Though he says it is the last thing he wants to do, the judge made clear he is only seeking to “protect the dignity of the court.” (He may have already jailed him since this writing.)
We suspect that the judge knows that Donald Trump is merely playing deliberately to his MAGA crowd, knowing that when the judge threatens him, that only serves to bring in more money from Trump’s followers. Yet the judge knows that putting a former president behind bars would only mean that his followers would respond with even more enthusiasm to a jailed president.
One reader of GwinnettForum suggested another alternative that might be better than jail time, if Trump disobeys orders again. “Put an ankle brace on him,” the reader suggests, “And confine him either to his home, or to the courthouse, no other places.” That would also prevent even weekend jaunts across the country to campaign, which might be even a greater penalty on the ever-outrageous Trump.
The idea of confining Trump to his home with an ankle brace solves another problem. If the judge threw the former president in jail, that would mean that the Secret Service would have to provide protection for him while incarcerated. It would be far easier for the Secret Service to protect him within his own home.
Looking back, is it nine? violations of the order from Judge Merchan’s court, and on each incident he was fined $1,000? With Trump having financial problems now, what if the judge had told Trump that every time he violated the court order, he would double the fine? Double $1,000 nine times, and Trump would be paying $256,000 for the ninth violation. And the first eight would have cost him $259,000. Doubling each time might make more of an impression than nine fines of $1,000.
In case you are wondering about the background of Judge Merchan, we found this in Wikipedia.
Interestingly, Judge Merchan falls into a category that Donald Trump often vilifies. He is an American citizen who emigrated, with his parents, when he was six years old, from Bogota, Columbia. Merchan studied business at Baruch College in Manhattan, graduating in 1990, and earned his law degree from Hofstra University School of Law on Long Island in 1994. He was the first member of his family to go to college.
A former assistant district attorney, Merchan became a judge in 2006 when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him to the New York City Family Court, Bronx County. He remained in that role until 2009.
Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau appointed Merchan as Acting Justice in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, Criminal, in 2009, and he has been in that position since that time. Merchan presides over felony criminal trials.
Merchan also previously served concurrently as a judge of the New York Court of Claims, being appointed to that role by Governor David Paterson in 2009 and serving until 2018.
- Have a comment? Send to: ebrack2@gmail.com.
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