Sentenced

And just like that, what was once thought to be impossible happened. Donald Trump was sentenced on the 34 counts of conviction against him in Manhattan.

There were no surprises. Trump did not demonstrate remorse like many defendants do at this point. He didn’t apologize for the harm he’d done or the worry he’d caused his family. But then, we did not expect him to. Instead, he painted himself as a victim of political lawfare.

Judge Juan Merchan imposed the sentence of unconditional discharge he had said he would impose. Trump signed off from the hearing a convicted felon. But, he was also a free man. Trump has no further obligations to the court—no sentence, no fine, no supervision.

The Judge’s decision to forego imprisonment, or even a fine, did not sit well with some people. And after years of watching Trump delay, twist, and outrun the legal system for the most part, it’s easy to understand why.

Trump outran the reach of the criminal justice system, both in the two federal cases against him and the Fulton County, Georgia, prosecution. There will be no jury verdict in a criminal prosecution of Donald Trump for January 6. That is an unescapable fact that leaves Americans wondering, rightly, what comes next in our system of justice, where everyday Americans must face a jury and judgment if they commit crimes and are indicted, while Trump avoids that outcome.

Against that backdrop, today’s sentencing hearing, as strange as this may sound, gives me hope more than it gives me pause. It leads me to believe the damage Donald Trump has done and will continue to do to our system can be repaired through individual acts of conscience and courage. Hear me out.

The system is severely stressed at the moment. But the fact that this sentencing took place at all and that Trump now stands as a convicted felon, something that should have happened as a matter of course but was far from certain in this case, is a testament to what we can reclaim. The Judge and prosecutors in court today were American heroes. They put themselves squarely in the sights of a very powerful man. Their sacrifice and willingness to stand up for the rule of law is something we should all honor. They acted with true courage. They refused to obey in advance.

“This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass. “He thinks he is above the law and not responsible for his actions.”

But Steinglass went on to acknowledge reality; that Trump would be the president in a few days and that Americans deserved a president who took office without a tail of obligations resulting from a sentence in a criminal case. What would have been fair to impose of citizen Trump would have harmed a country about to be led by President Trump. It is the ultimate unfairness, but it is also reality. And so, the court did the best it could in a bad situation.

The sentencing might not have happened but for Judge Merchan’s decision to announce in advance that he would proceed with an unconditional discharge. The Supreme Court narrowly signed off on it, in a 5-4 vote where Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett joined Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson to deny Trump the result he wanted.

The five justices in the majority briefly explained Trump wasn’t entitled to postpone sentencing because his arguments could be addressed in the course of the appeal following sentencing (this is the process that applies to every other defendant) and that since Judge Merchan had already said he wouldn’t impose time in prison, any burden on “the President-Elect’s responsibilities” would be “relatively insubstantial.” Sentencing was on, the result a rare one in a Trump case that led to him being treated like other people. Trump got sentenced. He was not entirely above the law.

Now, Trump will take office in 10 days as a convicted felon. We should not gloss over how shocking it is to have a criminal for an American president. But it’s also a start. In the end, in this one case in Manhattan, Donald Trump was held accountable.

To those disappointed by the sentence, I’d encourage you to continue to consider the rationale. Insisting on a longer sentence would have meant there would be no sentencing at all based on what we know of the Supreme Court’s reasoning. First offenders convicted of similar crimes in New York don’t typically face jail time. The explanation for the sentence that Judge Merchan offered makes sense, even if its not the outcome people wanted: Trump got this treatment because of the office that the American people elected him to. It’s the office that merits these protections, not the man. The man was held accountable. The jury verdict that he continues to criticize was enforced.

As Judge Merchan said, “It is the legal protections afforded to the OFFICE of the president of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant of the office.” In an imperfect situation, men and women committed to the rule of law found a way to hold Donald Trump accountable when it would have been easier to give up. Ultimately the Judge did the right thing. He stood for the rule of law, and his fidelity will, perhaps, be viewed in the sweep of history as the first small step toward restoring it. Judge Merchan followed the law: He protected the presidency, but he held the man accountable. Donald Trump will walk up on the day of the inauguration and embark upon the presidency as a convicted felon.

Trump should, of course, have faced accountability before a jury for his conduct in regards to January 6 and for mishandling classified documents and lying about it. It’s a travesty that he didn’t. The Supreme Court has much to answer for. Those cases were not before Judge Merchan and he could not do anything about them. But he did do something about the case in front of him.

At a low point like this, it might be tempting to think that the rule of law is dead. That Donald Trump killed it. There is no doubt that the rule of law is battered, but this can still be a starting point; a low moment during which the only place we can permit ourselves to consider going is up. We will have to measure progress in imperfect, small steps. But making the effort is better than the alternative. Giving up is not an option.

If we abandon the rule of law and democracy because their weaknesses have been exposed, where does that lead? Autocracy is not a pretty place. When we look back years down the road, perhaps we’ll be able to see this as the moment that democracy got a jump start and that people began to find ways to solve the problems, even as Trump regained office. Perhaps it will be the case that Americans saw that decent people who act in a forthright manner in the face of corruption can make a difference, even if it’s a small one, and that what happened in a Manhattan courtroom gives people hope. We need that as we enter upon the second Trump presidency.

While we live through these moments, my heart remains with friends and family in Los Angeles. The other night, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell, who also has Angeleno roots, said that everyone who is from Los Angeles, no matter where they are now, is living in Los Angeles again. My thoughts are with the people who are living through this tragedy. I know there are many of you among our readers at Civil Discourse, and I hope that as you can, you will let us hear from you and help us understand if there is anything we can do. Until then, we are here.

We’re in this together,

Joyce