Judge Juan Merchan has the not inconsiderable job of managing a defendant who may model his courtroom behavior on Al Pacino in And Justice for All or Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago Seven.
When former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial starts on Monday, April 15, the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, will have many balls in the air. The case starts with jury selection, but the judge should get ready for more dilatory motions and the not inconsiderable job of managing a defendant who may model his courtroom behavior on Al Pacino in And Justice for All or Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago Seven.
Jury selection will be ugly. The judge’s juror questionnaire doesn’t ask who the jurors voted for in 2020. It asks orienting questions like favorite news sources, but you can bet that the Trump legal team will hammer away on every juror who doesn’t watch Fox News. His preference for Trump-voting Staten Islanders suggests he won’t be content unless the jury is stacked in his favor. To avoid a free-for-all, the judge should ask jurors most questions himself and screen proposed questions from the lawyers before they are put to jurors.
During and after jury selection, Trump will file more motions to delay or dismiss the case. The judge should anticipate them, set a schedule for them, and do his homework about the law that applies to them. He must allow Trump to make a record and receive just rulings without throwing the trial off track. At the appellate level, judges should be standing by too.
