Trump needs to show more faith in jury system

John M. Crisp, Tribune News Service

Former President Donald Trump has good reasons for petitioning for “removal,” the legal manoeuvre that transfers adjudication of his Georgia indictment for election interference from state court to federal court. In fact, his reasons are better than his rationale.  At least five co-defendants, including Mark Meadows, Trump’s last chief of staff, have already requested removal based on the questionable rationale that they are being charged for actions connected to their duties as federal officers.  If Trump petitions for removal, as well—which seems likely—he will base his request on the same rationale, the idea that, for example, asking the Georgia secretary of state to “find” at least one more vote than the precise number that Trump needed to win the state was connected to the legitimate functions of his federal office at the time.

It seems like quite a stretch, but that’s for the courts to decide. But Trump has reasons for wishing to move his case into federal court. For example, appeals of a federal court ruling in this complex case could be more likely to reach the Supreme Court, where Trump may suppose he’ll get a friendly hearing.

Furthermore, Trump may imagine that if he’s re-elected, he could pardon himself for a federal conviction in Georgia, which he would be unable to do if he were convicted in a state court. In fact, recent reporting in the New York Times indicates that he is already floating this proposition with his aides.  But it’s the third reason that’s most concerning: Trump, Meadows and other defendants would have us believe that they could not possibly receive justice from a jury chosen in Fulton County, Georgia, a county where Joe Biden received 73% of the vote in 2020.  Regardless of what you think of Trump or his presidency, one of the things that the Trump era will be most remembered for is the erosion of our confidence in the institutions that are important to a democracy or a healthy nation.  Trump has undermined our faith in the Supreme Court, congress, the media, the medical establishment, the two-party system and the federal bureaucracy (in its best sense), particularly the CIA, the IRS and the CDC. And he’s convinced millions of Americans that—despite the lack of evidence—we’ll never have another honest election.  Now he turns his sights on the North Star of our justice system: our right to determination of guilt by a jury of our peers.

I suspect that it’s impossible for Trump to imagine that someone who voted against him in an election could vote in his favor because of evidence and the law, largely because he has trouble imagining himself doing such a thing.  But here’s something he should consider:

The jury system itself is extraordinarily weighted in his favour, no matter the venue. Ordinarily both the prosecution and defense have the right to strike jurors they feel might be prejudiced against their case, as well as accept jurors who might favour it.  Furthermore—and this is probably our jury system’s most remarkable feature—a finding of guilt has to be unanimous. All Trump needs is one committed follower on the jury, the kind that would support Trump despite evidence against him—and there are still plenty of those in Fulton County—and he’s off the hook.  Under these circumstances, if a jury of 12 citizens, empaneled anywhere, finds Trump guilty of trying to overturn an election, maybe he should own up to the crime, and so should his millions of committed followers.

In the meantime, here’s a plea for Trump, and a piece of advice: The plea: You’ve already eroded Americans’ faith in many of our institutions; don’t undermine our confidence in the jury system along with the rest. You could do your country a great service by showing some faith in juries.  The advice: Do not commit crimes where you don’t want to be prosecuted. And if you truly think that everything alleged against you is part of a big “witch hunt,” quit giving the “witch hunters” so much material to work with.