Bedrock conservative idea of states' rights deepens Trump legal woes

+ the burden of female Black prosecutors US Edition - Today's top story: Fulton County charges Donald Trump with racketeering, other felonies -- a Georgia election law expert explains 5 key things to know [View in browser]( US Edition | 17 August 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( We’re getting a lot of practice covering indictments of a former president. So the politics desk was well prepared for the breaking news of a fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump this week. Editor Amy Lieberman did her research and found a Georgia election law scholar, Anthony Michael Kreis. She arranged for him to write [an analysis when an indictment was handed up](. That would be a breaking story. “When we saw the all-too-brief posting of an indictment on the Fulton County clerk site on Monday afternoon,” said Amy, “I scrambled to write questions for my author and then to slowly chip away at the text to make it readable and informative, not repetitive. The rest of the night was watching the news slowly unfold, with many starts and stops.” I worked in advance with constitutional law scholar Stefanie Lindquist from Arizona State University on a piece looking at federalism and how, under the U.S. system of government, people’s actions may be regulated by both the federal and state governments – which led to Trump being indicted for many of the [same actions both federally and in Georgia](. That would need finishing off once an indictment was made public in Fulton County. Howard Manly, our race and equity editor, worked in advance with American University scholar Bev-Freda Jackson on a piece looking at how Black women prosecutors, like Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, face an [extra burden of gendered and racist attacks](, especially in the age of Trump. As with the Lindquist story, we would quickly top this off once the news broke. Editor Jeff Inglis spent his evening updating our [chart of indictments]( and supporting the work of the rest of us. “I was thinking about what we had done to prepare for the coverage,” said Jeff, “and trying to figure out if we had missed anything and identify what we did well, because there will be more late nights with breaking legal and political news to come. I was also listening to CNN’s TV coverage and actually feeling both impressed by the clarity with which the presenters were explaining the process, and smiling with quiet pride every time they discussed something we had already helped our readers understand.” We hope we have served our readers with our coverage this week. We’re all feeling quiet pride – and also, as my old neighbors in Maine used to say, “wicked tired.” Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Society Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney receives documents from court clerk Che Alexander on August 14, 2023. Megan Varner/Getty Images [Fulton County charges Donald Trump with racketeering, other felonies – a Georgia election law expert explains 5 key things to know]( Anthony Michael Kreis, Georgia State University Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ RICO charges against Trump are targeting election law violations, but by another name. The charges can result in a minimum five years in prison. Fulton County Sheriff officers block off a street in front of the Fulton County Courthouse on August 14, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Joe Raedle/Getty Images [Georgia’s indictment of Trump is a confirmation of states’ rights, a favorite cause of Republicans since Reagan]( Stefanie Lindquist, Arizona State University Donald Trump faces ‘double the trouble’ as Georgia charges were added to federal charges brought over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. And that’s thanks to federalism. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her office in Atlanta, Ga. David Walter Banks/Getty Images [Black female prosecutors like Fani Willis face the unequal burden of both racist and sexist attacks]( Bev-Freda Jackson, American University School of Public Affairs While Donald Trump has used his social media platform to criticize all of his opponents, the former president has made his most controversial attacks against Black female prosecutors. [Where will Trump go on trial first? How federal and state prosecutors and judges work out conflicts]( Darryl K. Brown, University of Virginia Trump has trial dates set for three of his four criminal cases. But generally, state and federal prosecutors will coordinate to make sure that their dates don’t overlap. [Ohio voters kept it easy to pass a constitutional amendment protecting abortion − but also for the majority to someday limit other rights]( Edward L. Lascher Jr., California State University, Sacramento; Joshua J. Dyck, UMass Lowell The recent push in Ohio to pass a constitutional amendment was seen as a move to curb abortion rights. It failed. Two scholars say the ballot measure was really about minority rights in a democracy. [Trump’s free speech faces court-ordered limits, like any other defendant’s – 2 law professors explain why, and how Trump’s lawyers need to watch themselves too]( Thomas A. Durkin, Loyola University Chicago; Joseph Ferguson, Loyola University Chicago What can President Trump and his lawyers say about documents and witness statements used as evidence in his upcoming trial over his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election? [Tommy Tuberville reportedly doesn’t live in Alabama − should he still be its senator?]( Charles R. Hunt, Boise State University The framers decided that members of both the House and Senate would be required to be “an inhabitant” of the state they represent. - [What Florida gets wrong about George Washington and the benefits he received from enslaving Black people]( Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State University Florida’s new standards for teaching social studies include throwbacks to an interpretation of slavery as benign or inconsequential. - [Underpaid and overlooked, migrant labor provides backbone of Maryland Eastern Shore’s local economy]( Thurka Sangaramoorthy, American University With more than 2 million migrant workers finding food processing jobs in rural America, their struggle to find adequate health care remains elusive. - [Solidarity and symbolism the order of the day as US, Japan and South Korea leaders meet at Camp David]( Mary M. McCarthy, Drake University President Biden has an opportunity to show himself as a global leader who can bring historically antagonistic U.S. allies together. Like this newsletter? You might be interested in our other weekly emails: [Science Editors' Picks]( • [This Week in Religion]( • [Weekly Highlights]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](