Since Jan. 6, 2021, a national debate has swirled around whether former President Donald Trump will be investigated and prosecuted for any crimes he may have committed through his efforts to remain in office despite his clear election loss. A growing consensus has emerged among legal experts, scholars and those otherwise concerned with the health of our democracy, that Trump’s actions to overturn the election warrant criminal accountability. That sentiment was significantly bolstered when federal district court judge David O. Carter, reviewing an effort by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 to obtain documents from a key witness, found that Trump had “more likely than not” committed federal crimes in trying to interfere with the electoral count proceedings that day. Judge Carter’s pronouncement didn’t break any news about the evidence or the potential crimes Trump committed, all of which have been well–documented. But the impact of a matter-of-fact pronouncement on Trump’s potential culpability from a federal judge was unmistakable. As one analyst wrote in the New York Times, the ruling “intensified scrutiny on the question of whether the Justice Department can, should or will try to charge him with the same crimes.”
Yet Judge Carter’s opinion also met with a wave of warnings from legal journalists and expert commentators that accountability advocates shouldn’t get their hopes up for a Trump prosecution, largely because of the difficult challenge of proving...
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Education Association (IEA) is working to pass Senate Bill 2914 this session, a bill that would put an end to a long-time practice of school administrators keeping accus...