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Event analysis
Donald Trump’s promise to seek retaliation becomes outdated norms. The choice may depend in part on the kind of judicial formula the country believes it has now and needs in the future.
By Adam Liptak
Report from Washington
Former President Donald J. Trump says he is in a position to prosecute his political enemies if elected this fall. According to legal experts, the mere act of making such threats is a real blow to the rule of law.
But while as a candidate he is already wondering what the fundamental rules of the judicial formula are, Trump, if he wins the presidency again, will gain immense authority to enforce the kind of legal retribution he advocates.
The Breakdown of Justice is a component of the executive branch and will be its sponsor. He will ask his officials to investigate and prosecute his rivals, and Mr. Trump, who has made no secret of his preference for purging the federal bureaucracy of the federal bureaucracy of the federal bureaucracy.
If historically power enjoys truly broad independence, it is only because presidents have granted it to it. If the judiciary resists impeachment in a second Trump term, it will be in large part because judges and juries will reject them.
Trump’s take on his planned prosecution serves an immediate political purpose, underscoring his argument that his conviction in New York was the product of an effort by Democrats to save him from being re-elected and provide the red meat for potential retaliation to his base.
But they also have the effect, partly accidental and partly calculated, of undermining confidence in the integrity of the criminal justice system, a progression that can have far-reaching consequences in a country where the rule of law is fundamental.
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