The disgrace of a former American president

livemint.com:

convicted of a felony—34 felonies, in fact. This historic disgrace should both shock the nation and reassure it about its capacity to achieve justice. That the conviction of Donald Trump will probably accomplish neither result testifies partly to the corrosive power of Mr Trump’s shamelessness and partly to the complex, contestable nature of the charges brought against him.

A jury of Mr Trump’s peers weighed the evidence and unanimously convicted him of breaking election law by covering up payments of hush money to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with him. In itself the outcome would seem to vindicate a fundamental American principle, that no citizen is beyond the reach of justice. Yet over the long run this prosecution will probably do more to weaken than affirm the rule of law.

Legal experts have cited numerous avenues for credible appeal, and any appeal will not be resolved until long after the November election. That will make it all the easier for Mr Trump’s supporters to embrace his arguments that he is the victim of a biased judge and jury. This verdict is particularly vulnerable to appeal because of the lack of clear precedent for the charges the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, chose to bring.

Falsifying business expenses is a misdemeanour under New York law, but by arguing that that crime was committed in order to commit or conceal another one, Mr Bragg was able to charge Mr Trump with felonies. Prosecutors argued, and Judge Juan Merchan agreed, that jurors did not even have to agree on precisely what other law Mr Trump violated, resulting in a vagueness that is sure to be one of the grounds for appeal. Mr Bragg, a Democrat, was elected to his post after boasting that he was