Raid is an attack on our collective liberty!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

RAID ON POTUS LAWYER SHOULD CONCERN EVERYONE!

By Steve Fair

     The sixth amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees a citizen the assistance of counsel in all criminal prosecutions.  Implied in that guarantee is the confidentiality of attorney-client privilege.  A client should be assumed confidentiality when they are talking with their attorney and preparing a defense.  In other words, what you tell your lawyer should remain between you and your lawyer.  In fact, according to a Supreme Court ruling in 1998- Swidler & Berlin vs. United States, it is even in effect after the client dies.  Swidler & Berlin were Vince Foster’s lawyer and President Clinton wanted his lawyer’s handwritten notes, but the court said attorney-client privilege was still in force.

     Two weeks ago, the offices and hotel room of President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen were raided by the FBI in conjunction with the New York U.S. attorney’s office and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  Reportedly Cohen’s cellphones, tablets, and laptop were searched for incriminating evidence regarding a payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, who claims she and Trump had an affair. Cohen, who has a long history with the POTUS, has said he would go to the mat for Trump.  We may soon see when the FBI and the Special Counsel throw the white light on him. Trump has called Mueller’s investigation a ‘witch hunt,’ and defended Cohen as a fine man.

     Alan Dershowitz is a political liberal, was the youngest law professor in Harvard history, and no fan of President Trump.  “I am a liberal who voted against Trump, but who insists that his civil liberties must be respected for all of our sake.”  In an editorial in The Hill, Dershowitz said that if Hillary Clinton’s lawyer’s office had been raided, the ACLU, and privacy advocates would have been up in arms.  He says it is because they disagree with Trump’s policies.  “That (remaining silent) is a serious mistake, because these violations establish precedents that lie around like loaded guns capable of being aimed at other targets,” Dershowitz wrote.

     Dershowitz is right- all citizens, liberals, conservatives, libertarians, Democrats, Republicans alike should be united in their outrage. Violating a constitutional right of one citizen weakens our system of government.  If the POTUS’s constitutional rights can be violated, it is certain it can be done to us. Where is the outrage from the legal community?   Why haven’t the barristers, the stewards of the law, been more vocal? 

     President Trump called the raid a disgrace.  “It’s an attack on our country, in a true sense.  It’s an attack on what we all stand for,” Trump said. Whether you agree with Trump’s policies or personality or not, every citizen should be concerned.  Even if you believe the POTUS did something illegal, Mueller’s raid of Trump’s lawyer violates the very core of who we are as a country- the right to privacy and attorney-client privilege.  If this is allowed to stand without consequences for those responsible, it will change America and not for the better.