A new lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, is effectively begging the conservative-laden Supreme Court to shield Donald Trump from criminal accountability for his fraud conviction in New York.
Bailey’s lawsuit, filed against the state of New York on Wednesday, pleads with the Supreme Court to immediately review his claims and ultimately postpone Trump’s sentencing until after the November election. It’s the latest attempt to gaslight Americans into believing Democrats are engaging in “lawfare” against Republicans — despite the fact it’s Republicans who’ve openly plotted and promoted using the legal system to target their perceived political enemies.
The lawsuit reads like a Fox News script, rife with right-wing grievances and baseless accusations of “election interference.” Bailey absurdly claims Trump’s criminal conviction over an illegal hush money scheme he led before the 2016 election and the gag order prohibiting Trump from publicly attacking court officials, prosecutors, or family members of either amounts to a First Amendment violation and “impedes the ability of electors to fulfill their federal functions.”
In a statement, Bailey claimed “Missouri has a huge problem with New York” and falsely accused liberals of “trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process,” accusing New York officials of illegally interfering with Trump’s campaign.
Of course, Trump is not being prohibited from campaigning. And his criminal conviction stems from his lawless actions — not a liberal plot. So this was a straight-up projection from Bailey here. It’s he who is waging an attack on our democratic process by attacking the legal system — and the concept of equal justice — to shield Trump.
Seeing a state attorney general misusing their powers this way is disturbing. But it’s unsurprising that this particular attorney general is prostrating himself to appease Trump and the MAGA faithful. Bailey demonstrated his far-right sycophancy last year when he initiated the push to punish media watchdog Media Matters for reporting on hate speech spreading on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. And he’s part of the “RAGA” movement — Republican attorneys generals who’ve essentially branded themselves as loyal servants for right-wing causes.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.