Callicoon Center

To the editor:

Despite being charged with crimes in Florida, Georgia, New York and the nation’s capital, Donald Trump has every right to run for president—and citizens have every right to vote for him. And Trump also has an absolute right to insist he won the 2020 election. Although over sixty court cases failed to uncover a single instance of voter fraud, and even the twelve Trump-appointed judges who heard federal cases ruled against him, Trump still has a First Amendment right to repeat his discredited allegations.

But no one has the right to use speech to try to overturn an election. This is part of what Trump is charged with in Georgia and in one of the federal indictments. Every American has a right to see the rule of law upheld, and the fact that Trump is running for president with the support of a significant minority of Americans does not warrant derailing our legal system. As awkward and messy as it may be, politics and justice must both move forward at the same time. If something’s got to give, it can’t be the law.