Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the state of New York for the violation of Missourians’ First Amendment right to hear from a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Bailey stated that the New York trial and gag order placed on Trump undermines his ability to campaign for president, sabotaging Missourians’ ability to hear from and cast a fully informed vote for a presidential candidate. Bailey is calling on the Supreme Court to invoke its original jurisdiction under Article III, Section II of the Constitution to settle the legal battle between the two states, according to a press release.
“We’re going to continue to fight against lawfare in all of its forms, not only by entering and filing briefs in the other illicit witch hunt prosecutions of President Trump, but also fighting to expose and make transparent the collusion between Biden’s Department of Justice and the illicit witch hunt prosecutions at the state level, and fighting censorship and the silencing of not only President Trump’s voice but of listeners in Missouri,” Bailey told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Judge Juan Merchan lifted the portions of the order preventing Trump from making statements about witnesses and jurors on June 25, two days before the first presidential debate. Trump’s attorneys urged Merchan to lift the gag order, arguing the concerns expressed by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office “do not justify restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump” now that the trial has concluded.
Trump was convicted on 34 accounts of falsification of business records stemming from a nondisclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels. The Manhattan jury consisting of seven men and five women indicted Trump after almost 12 hours of deliberations. (RELATED: ‘A Win For President Trump’: Jonathan Turley Says Supreme Court Immunity Ruling Is Blow To Jack Smith)
“The indictment itself has tethered President Trump to a courtroom in New York for weeks during the campaign and has the potential to send him to prison at worst and honor his terms of probation at best. That again, denies Missourians access to the president, but additionally, the gag order that was requested by the prosecutor and approved by the judge violates Missourians’ First Amendment rights to hear from a presidential candidate,” Bailey told the DCNF.
Trump could still face jail time as his sentencing was set for July 11, but has been pushed back to Sept. 18 following the Supreme Court’s ruling granting immunity from prosecution for official acts. Bailey stated in the suit that any sentence, even probation, would likely interfere with Trump’s ability to freely campaign across the country.
“By the time this lawsuit is fully briefed, that date will be near at hand, and the regular appeals process in the underlying trial after September 18 will be far too slow to afford Missouri relief,” the lawsuit states.
🚨BREAKING: I will be filing suit against the State of New York for their direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump.
It’s time to restore the rule of law.
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) June 21, 2024
Bailey hinted on June 20 that he would sue the State of New York for the attack on the democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against former President Donald Trump, according to his statement on X.
“Trump’s conviction is very likely to be overturned on appeal. But by then, the constraints New York has sought to impose on Trump to limit his ability to campaign will already have had their full effect. Missouri has a strong, judicially enforceable interest in its citizens and electors being able to hear Trump’s campaigning free from any gag order or other interference imposed by the State of New York,” Bailey stated in the suit.
Bailey filed a motion of preliminary injunction, asking the court to immediately halt any further action in the New York case until after the American people have had their say at the ballot box, according to the press release.
“Missourians are deeply concerned about the direction of this nation. In Missouri, we love freedom and we love the rights that are given to God and protected by the United States Constitution. We believe that the government exists to protect our rights, and so when we see the government weaponized against an individual to take those rights away, it is an affront to who we are as a people,” Bailey told the DCNF.
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