"Justice" Arthur Engoron violated the First Amendment today by threatening to have former President Donald Trump kidnapped by the government if he speaks publicly about Engoron's staff during his civil trial. This comes after Trump accused Engoron's law clerk Allison Greenfield of "palling around" with Chuck Schumer in a post on "Truth" Social. Apparently Greenfield is not and has never dated Chuck Schumer according to other people but Trump did post a picture of the two together. Trump like anyone has the right to publicly criticize anyone for being involved in a court proceeding especially if they do anything he disagrees with. Such criticism strikes the core of the First Amendment and is vital when fighting an enemy on all fronts.
This author personally enjoyed the freedoms of the First Amendment when naming and posting information about everyone involved in federal cases against me. I won't hesitate to do the same thing again if anyone attempts to use America's kangaroo courts against me for any reason, so I have no choice but to side with Trump on this issue because if Trump allows himself to be gagged then surely others will try to gag me in a similar way someday. One key difference between Trump and myself is my proven track record of not complying with such orders. A federal judge once denied me bail when I was facing charges of assaulting federal officers and then tried to gag me at the detention center by "ordering" as a confinement condition that I not have anything posted on the internet on my behalf. I violated that right away because as an inmate I could simply say, "what are you going to do? I'm already in jail." Then I was put in segregation on 23 hour lockdown where I finally came clean about the fact that I had memorized the judge's home address and was handing it out to other inmates like Halloween candy.
I'm not posting Judge Engoron's address at this time because there are orders then there is enforcement of such orders. If any judge in this country actually jails someone for free speech in the name of judicial economy I will consider posting that judge's address, but only time will tell if Judge Engoron actually has the audacity to jail a presidential candidate for speaking. There are alternatives to jail for violating gag orders including fines. In 1983, Larry Flynt was hit with a $10,000 a day fine which he paid using $1 bills delivered to the court in trash bags carried by Hustler Magazine models. Flynt had been found in contempt for refusing to divulge the source of a video tape showing John DeLorean buying cocaine from undercover FBI agents. DeLorean was later found not guilty by reason of entrapment. Flint left the courtroom in the custody of U.S. Marshals and was subsequently arraigned on a misdemeanor charge for desecrating the American flag by wearing it as a diaper "because if you're going to treat me like a baby I'm going to act like one." Is Donald Trump willing to pay a fine "until hell freezes over" just like Larry Flynt (see https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/11/18/Flynt-charged-with-desecrating-flag/3622437979600/)?
Larry Flynt was a leftist paralyzed by a bullet fired by a right wing extremist angry about the pornography Flynt had been producing. Most of the legal proceedings brought against Flynt were nothing more than right wing attempts to violate his First Amendment rights. The effort to gag Trump shows that people on the left are equally capable of treating right wingers the same way.
Trump should be more than willing to pay a fine seeing as how if he loses the case he will likely have to file for bankruptcy in which case he can spite his debtors by spending the money now before they have grounds to seek its seizure. Ivanka continues to age well, so she could do just as good a job delivering the funds.
Learn more about how to appropriate responses to court orders in the video below. The proceedings were in federal court in real life but other than that the clip appears historically accurate.