It’s another beautiful morning at 100 Centre St in Manhattan, as the press gathers for Day 2 of jury selection in the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump. I’m here covering it all again for @lawfare. Follow this thread for updates 🧵⚖️
And to catch up on everything you missed on Day 1, check out my thread from yesterday ⬇️
When we adjourned, only 32 of the first panel’s 96 prospective jurors remained in the courtroom, most of them having self-identified as unable to be fair and impartial, or saying they couldn’t serve for other reasons. Today, we’re set to begin at 9:30 a.m.
As always, we’re only able to take you into the courtroom with this play-by-play, in-depth coverage thanks to your help. If you enjoyed following along yesterday, or are looking forward to today, we hope that you’ll consider donating to @lawfare givebutter.com/c/trumptrials/…
A topic of hot debate yesterday was whether the former president dozed off in the courtroom. Right now at least, he seems to be awake.
8:51 a.m. Trump's motorcade has arrived at the courthouse.
As we wait for Day 2 to start, a question from yesterday was whether Trump's presence at the trial was his right or a requirement. It’s both. He has a a constitutional due process right, but it’s also a requirement under NY’s rules of criminal procedure (CPL § 260.20)
This came up when Justice Merchan read out the “Parker warning”—some were confused why the judge would threaten arrest for not appearing without informing the defendant of his ability to file a motion to avoid having to appear.
As @AnthonyMKreis points out, “default rule is compulsory attendance and the arrest warning is standard.” @rparloff tells me that the purpose of that warning in to let the defendant know that if he absconds, the case can go on w/out him and when he’s caught he won’t get a do-over
@AnthonyMKreis @rparloff The judge can excuse the defendant, but as @nkorpett tells me, the judge will be careful about it because the rule’s requirement is designed to protect a constitutional right. So waiving that right must be “voluntary, knowing, and intelligent.” Hence the Parker warning.