"Get Trump!" Damn the Constitution

[] ["Get Trump!" Damn the Constitution]( by Alan M. Dershowitz • August 24, 2022 at 5:00 pm [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - Many of my friends on the left fear [Trumpism] as much as many on the right feared communism in the 1950s. And they may have a point. But not enough of a point to destroy a century of progress in civil liberties, free speech, due process, and the rule of law. - Articles are now frequently appearing in the mainstream media demanding compromises with important rights in the name of "Getting Trump." - My former colleague Laurence Tribe, who taught constitutional law for half a century, now seems willing to weaponize the Constitution to serve his partisan end of "Getting Trump." Incredibly, he has advocated prosecuting Trump for the "attempted murder" of then Vice President Mike Pence. To do so would require retroactively and unconstitutionally expanding the law of attempts to fit Trump's ill-advised actions and inactions with regard to Pence. But apparently that doesn't matter to Tribe and his followers, who care more about achieving their "noble" ends than they do about the ignoble means they are willing to employ. - The ACLU, which has long objected to the overuse of search warrants instead of subpoenas, is silent about the search of Mar-a-Lago. As long as the goal is to get Trump, anything goes including hypocrisy, inconstancy and unconstitutionality. - I would give everyone "the benefit of law," but not only "for my own safety's sake," but for the sake of future generations. Once the Constitution and civil liberties are "cut down," it is difficult to regrow them and the "winds that would blow them" might prevent us from "standing upright" against new tyrannies from the extreme left and right. - This important right [to vote ] should not be taken away by unconstitutional means, even if the result were to be the unlikely re-election of Trump. That is the price of democracy. The ACLU, which has long objected to the overuse of search warrants instead of subpoenas, is silent about the search of Mar-a-Lago (pictured). As long as the goal is to get Trump, anything goes including hypocrisy, inconstancy and unconstitutionality. (Photo by Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) There is a movement afoot to "Get Trump," at any cost. The goal is to prevent him from running in 2024. Many in this movement are willing to use any means to attain what they believe to be a necessary and admirable goal. "Democracy is at stake," they claim. They are prepared to sacrifice constitutional rights, civil liberties, principles and the rule of law to stop former President Donald Trump. This is a familiar argument to me. I fought against it in the 1950s, when decent people who believed that Communism was a grave danger to democracy were willing to trample on the Constitutional rights of alleged communists and fellow travelers, in order to prevent them from destroying our democracy. [Continue Reading Article]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Donate]( Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved. You are subscribed to this list as {EMAIL} You can change how you receive these emails: [Update your subscription preferences]( or [Unsubscribe from this list]( [Gatestone Institute]( 14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022