Trump is right on open court
Today was to be the beginning of Donald Trump’s Stormy Daniels hush money/election inference criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg before Acting Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. Instead, Trump has a hearing before Merchan this morning in courtroom 1530 at 100 Centre St., where a new start date may be set.
The other big Trump case today is if state Attorney General Tish James will make Trump provide a half billion dollar bond for the judgment she won in a civil action over his false valuations of his holdings. That case was litigated down the block at 60 Centre St. before Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
While the courthouses are only a few minutes walk from each other, the difference in terms of public access to the documents in the two cases is light-years apart.
Every letter, motion, email, brief and order from the parties and the judge in the civil case is on a public electronic docket. As of Friday there were 1,706 entries.
But in the criminal case, there is nothing. Blame New York State for failing to set up an electronic criminal filing system, although the state Office of Court Administration has just started posting Merchan’s orders online.
Trump’s lawyers have asked Merchan to “unseal and docket all pleadings, orders, and substantive written communications that have involved the court and the parties” and “require simultaneous public access of all future pleadings, orders, and written communications,” following any needed redactions.
They are correct that “formal, publicly filed communications between the parties and the court are a requirement steeped in President Trump’s right to a public trial, the First Amendment right of access that belongs to the press and the public, and the related common law framework.”
Making much the same request of Merchan are lawyers on behalf of the Daily News, the New York Post, the New York Times, Newsday, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Law360, ABC News, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, National Public Radio, Advance Publications, the New Yorker, New York magazine, the Atlantic magazine and the Daily Beast.
In an email sent to Merchan on Friday and being hand delivered today, the lawyers for the media are 1,000% correct that press and public access to the complete record of the first criminal trial of a former president is of immense importance. There must be full transparency in the case.
As Law360 pointed out in a detailed story last week, Trump’s request for open documents was not an open document itself for days, nor was Bragg’s reply. We commend Law360 for creating a free online library of the available documents, including the Trump request, Bragg reply and letter from the press. Excellent, but it should be a government function to maintain such a resource, as is done on the civil side.
The non-witness portions of the trial, such as the opening and closing arguments, should be broadcast, as state law permits. If Merchan fears that TV cameras may show the jury, then use a live audio broadcast, like the U.S. Supreme Court. Another essential component is that the daily transcripts from the court stenographers must also be published.
While Courtroom 1530 has limited seating, the whole country is following this case.