The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ordered the media on Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will sit in judgment of the former president.
Judge Juan Merchan acted after one juror was dismissed when she expressed concerns about participating in the trial after details about her became publicly known.
The names of the jurors are supposed to be a secret, but the dismissed juror told Merchan she had friends, colleagues and family members contacting her to ask whether she was on the case. “I don’t believe at this point I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom,” she said.
Merchan then directed journalists present in the courthouse not to report it when potential jurors told the court their specific workplaces, past or present. That put journalists in the difficult position of not reporting something they heard in open court.
Took him fucking long enough.
Bet the media ignore this, at least the ones in favor of Trump.
What do they have to lose? Trump’s own gag order isn’t being enforced.
Just wait until their names get hacked off the NY justice system computers.
Long is the list of jailed and dead ordinary people who wrongly assumed that by association with the privileged class they would enjoy the same immunities.
Trump may die a free man despite his crimes, but journalists are working people.
A lot of us have noticed that Trump gets away with things that normal people would not, and that’s not an accident. Trump can run his mouth about everyone forever, and he may never be held to account–and there are a lot of sometimes complicated reasons for that–but the same privilege absolutely does not apply to courtroom field reporters.
If I were covering this trial, I’d violate the court’s instructions at my own peril.
That certainly does not mean that some folks won’t be pressured to violate the order to save their livelihoods, but I would expect no less than swift and heavy consequences for people who anger the court and whose names aren’t Trump.
Considering these conservative news organizations thought they could get away with slandering voting machine companies that had a lot more money than they do, I don’t know that they’re smart enough to not report on it.
They’ll be removed from the courtroom at the very least.
He did it on Thursday.
Now… That was still too late, but then when he set rules, they weren’t based on hypotheticals.
I’m most shocked that this was ever allowed in any trial.
There are a lot of pretty obvious situations where you wouldn’t want the accused or their “associates” to be able to identify a juror (or their family or anyone they might be connected with).
It’s because the US doesn’t do secret trials. By default, everything in the courtroom is open to the public. An open, transparent justice system works really well in a functional democracy, but it’s going to seem hopelessly naïve in our current proto-facist hellscape.
Right?? How is it not just standard that juries are anonymous?
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial ordered the media on Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will sit in judgment of the former president.
We don’t have to guess who will follow the instructions. It’s been days since this happened
That will stop Fox, NewsMax, and OAN
It might stop Fox, they’re scared and been getting their assess kicked in court recently
Jesse Watters already doxxed a juror and scared her enough to get her recused. Lawsuits that result in fines don’t mean shit. That’s just cost of doing business for Fox
Maybe charging the fuckers with domestic terrorism will change their minds.
Jesse Watters already doxxed a juror
That happened immediately before the judge made this order, and was part of the reason the judge did so.
Have you seen any info on how they’re going to keep them safe and anonymous while going to and from the courthouse?
