I imposed the gag order only upon the parties, operating under the assumption that such a gag order would be unnecessary upon the attorneys, who are officers of the Court.
Remember when I said you should claim your First Amendment rights when the judge threatens to charge you with contempt for disrupting a trial? This is how that would go:
Defendants ' First Amendment arguments in opposition to the imposition are wholly unpersuasive . This gag order is as narrowly tailored as possible to accomplish its purpose, which is to protect the safety of my staff and promote the orderly progression of this trial. As I have made clear, as the Judge in this case and the trierof fact, thegag order does not apply to me. However, I will not tolerate, under any circumstances remarks about my court staff.
And you may recall Trump claimed (falsely) that there was no evidence offered to support the gag order in the D. C. case.
The threat of, and actual, violence resulting from heated political rhetoric is well-documented. Since the commencement of this bench trial, my chambers have been inundated with hundreds of harassing and threating phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters, and packages. The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far and away outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm.
Thus, for the reasons stated herein, I hereby order that all counsel are prohibited from making any public statements, in or out of court, that refer to any confidential communications, in any form, between my staff and me.
Failure to abide by this directive shall result in serious sanctions.
That's how you do it, kiddies. That he shouldn't have to do this to the attorneys on the case goes without saying. That he had to do it, does not do those attorneys any credit.
ETTD. It's like a moral law of the universe.
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