Bowling Green Today

On June 13, 2024, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) led 28 Senate Republicans in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland condemning what they described as the evisceration of the American judicial process and the conviction of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan.

The letter stated: “The conviction of President Trump in Manhattan is nothing short of the evisceration of the American judicial process. In their zeal to imprison Donald Trump, Democrat prosecutors successfully dissolved the constitutional protections afforded to defendants and the barriers that protect every American from the abuses of arbitrary rule.”

The senators expressed concerns over due process rights, citing violations of the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. They argued that Judge Juan Merchan’s financial contributions to Democratic candidates and causes compromised neutrality. Additionally, they criticized prosecutors for converting alleged misdemeanors into felonies without specifying a second crime.

“Due process cannot exist when the defendant is accused of a secret crime,” they wrote. “No American – not even a President – can defend himself fairly in a court of law if he is deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to know what crime he is alleged to have committed.”

The letter also accused the Biden Administration of complicity in undermining due process. The senators suggested that potential Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) violations were outside New York State prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s jurisdiction and claimed federal tolerance only because Trump was involved.

“We condemn this show trial,” they concluded, “not just because it marks the attempt to imprison a leader of the loyal opposition, but because it threatens the existence of due process of law, without which a constitutional republic dedicated to the protection of individual liberty is not possible.”

Senator Paul was joined by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Marco Rubio (R-FL), James Lankford (R-OK), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), JD Vance (R-OH), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ted Budd (R-NC), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Katie Britt (R-AL), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Hoeven (R-ND), Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Josh Hawley (R-MO).

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