Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz urged Friday on Fox News for lawsuits against New York after the state’s high court upheld a gag order on former President Donald Trump, arguing voters deserve a “full and complete debate.”
Dershowitz appeared on “Hannity” to discuss the gag order for Trump which was originally ordered during his New York trial involving Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Fox host Sean Hannity questioned the law professor on his thoughts regarding the issue, as Trump will not be able to speak on certain topics if asked during the June 27, 2024 presidential debate against Joe Biden. (RELATED: New York High Court Won’t Consider Trump’s Appeal To Lift Gag Order)
“Well [Trump’s legal team has] to appeal. I have a piece in tonight’s Wall Street Journal in which I urge people like us: file lawsuits against New York. After all, we have the right to hear Donald Trump in the election and this gag order says that Joe Biden can accuse Donald Trump of being a felon, having been convicted by an unfair jury, unfair judge of a non-crime,” Dershowitz said.
“He has the right to do that, but Donald Trump has one hand tied behind his back because he can’t respond in full. He can’t talk about the judge’s daughter, he can’t talk about the unfairness of the jurors. I guess, even the DA is now saying, ‘Well maybe he can talk about the witnesses.’ But the First Amendment applies not only to Donald Trump, the speaker, but to all of us — the viewers and listeners. We have the right to hear a full and complete debate, not a partial debate in which Trump is restricted about what he can say.”
“So I hope that the gag order will be appealed by Trump’s lawyers, and I hope amicus briefs — ‘friend-of-the-court’ briefs — will be submitted by ordinary people saying, ‘Look, you’re depriving us of our right to hear somebody. We’re undecided, we don’t know who we’re going to vote for. We may be influenced by this sordid and unfair conviction. We want to hear the other side.’ And that’s why it’s so important that the gag order be lifted at this point, not for Donald Trump’s sake alone, not for the Republican Party’s sake, but for the sake of all Americans — particularly undecided voters — who have a right to hear both sides of the issue,” Dershowitz said.
Following an appeal from Trump’s team to lift his gag order placed by Judge Juan Merchan, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, declined to remove the order Tuesday, stating “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”
A jury found Trump guilty May 30, 2024 of all 34 felony counts regarding falsified business records involving a nondisclosure payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. During the trial, Merchan placed a gag order on the former president, later fining him $10,000 for violating the order 10 times, in addition to threatening jail time.
