Analysis | Donald Trump issued gag order in preparation for election interference case; Judge Chutkan puts it on temporary hold
Following his statements attacking members of the prosecution team in the election interference case, Trump received a gag order from Judge Tanya Chutkan, which she temporarily lifted four days later. Photo courtesy of WikiCommons
Donald Trump is set to appear in court for his election interference case in March 2024, but the former president was served a gag order from the judge ahead of the proceedings.
Tanya Chutkan, the judge presiding over the litigations, declared a partial gag order against Trump on Oct. 16. This prevents him from both creating and reposting statements regarding the case and those involved, but he remains free to say anything about matters unrelated to the case. This includes statements about his political opponent, President Joe Biden, who has no involvement with the trial.
Trump, however, has argued that he is being unfairly censored because of his upcoming election campaign.
He posted on his social media app Truth Social following the order, saying, “The TRUMP GAG ORDER that the CORRUPT Biden Administration is trying to obtain is totally Unconstitutional!”
Chutkan defended the action, saying that his campaign status does not give him the right to target anyone for their involvement with the case.
“His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their job,” Chutkan said in court when imposing the order.
This order comes after several incidents of slander against special counsel Jack Smith and his staff by Trump. Many of these statements have been posted on Truth Social.
Trump’s team argued that the president’s statements were fair in the name of the First Amendment and freedom of speech, but Chutkan rebutted this point in court.
"Mr. Trump can certainly claim he's being unfairly prosecuted, but I cannot imagine any other criminal case in which a defendant is permitted to call the prosecutor 'deranged' or 'a thug,' and I will not permit it here simply because the defendant is running a political campaign," Chutkan said.
The freedom of speech amendment protects the former president’s statements regarding Biden and former running mate Mike Pence in terms of their campaigns in the upcoming election.
However, the judge has limited Trump’s speech relating to Pence’s involvement in the election interference case, including the 2020 vote certification and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol back in 2021.
Senior strategic and corporate communication major Kate Robinson, the vice president of Chapman Republicans, said that while she sees the relevance of a gag order, she believes that the situation is “hypocritical and sets a dangerous precedent.”
“If this is happening in the courtroom, it could happen on the campaign trail soon, where she’s limiting his speech there,” Robinson said.
Robinson also stated that she thinks this order will help Trump succeed in his campaign efforts going forward.
“I think (the gag order) is only going to make Republicans and more Independents support him,” Robinson told The Panther. “I think the average voter who leans right sees that every single thing they’ve done to him, the attempts to jail him, to indict him (and) to put gag orders on him. It’s completely frivolous if you read any of the charges.”
“I think (the gag order) is only going to make Republicans and more Independents support him. I think the average voter who leans right sees that every single thing they’ve done to him, the attempts to jail him, to indict him (and) to put gag orders on him. It’s completely frivolous if you read any of the charges.”
Trump and his team have repeatedly claimed that the order comes from Biden’s administration in an attempt to silence Trump before the 2024 election.
“(The order is) an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy by Crooked Joe Biden, who was granted the right to muzzle his political opponent, the leading candidate for the Presidency in 2024, and the most popular political leader in America, President Donald J. Trump,” stated a Trump representative.
Trump’s campaign also sent a fundraising email that claimed the order had been put on him “at the request of Joe Biden.”
The day that the order was issued, Trump addressed a crowd at an Iowa rally, calling the order “unconstitutional,” and claiming he would make an appeal.
“I’ll be the only politician in history that runs with a gag order where I’m not allowed to criticize people. Can you imagine this?” Trump told the attendees.
This is not the only gag order that has been placed on Trump in a courtroom. He was also ordered not to speak about individuals involved with his New York fraud case and was just fined $5,000 on Oct. 20 for violating the instruction.
Days after the partial gag order was served, Chutkan decided to put it on hold until Trump’s lawyers can argue their case for the statements he’s made.
Chapman political science professor Ronald Steiner, who has courtroom experience, stated his thoughts on the order.
“(Trump’s) been saying things that no ordinary criminal defendant or civil litigants would ever, ever be allowed to get away with,” Steiner told The Panther. “It’s way over the top. So, realistically, the judge is going to have to do something.”
“(Trump’s) been saying things that no ordinary criminal defendant or civil litigants would ever, ever be allowed to get away with. It’s way over the top. So, realistically, the judge is going to have to do something.”
Steiner also mentioned that gag orders are not uncommon occurrences in trials, and that in situations like Trump’s, an order is a “completely routine legal mechanism.”
“People have free speech rights to allege sweeping and dark, nefarious conspiracies,” Steiner said. “So, yeah, he can say that. But, he can’t intimidate witnesses. He can’t intimidate court personnel. And so, in order to maintain the integrity of the system, a gag order is sometimes necessary.”
“People have free speech rights to allege sweeping and dark, nefarious conspiracies. So, yeah, he can say that. But, he can’t intimidate witnesses. He can’t intimidate court personnel. And so, in order to maintain the integrity of the system, a gag order is sometimes necessary.”
Trump’s team has at least eight days from the start of the order’s temporary lift, which was on Oct. 20, to defend his statements and their appropriateness.
“This isn’t a political thing; this is a rational versus crazy thing,” Steiner said. “That’s the problem with American politics right now, is that a whole bunch of stuff that’s just irrational, unfounded (and) crazy is passing for ordinary political debate.”
“This isn’t a political thing; this is a rational versus crazy thing. That’s the problem with American politics right now, is that a whole bunch of stuff that’s just irrational, unfounded (and) crazy is passing for ordinary political debate.”
