No. of Recommendations: 4
John W. Dean @JohnWDean
Trump's latest federal indictment includes violation of 18 USC 241 ' conspiracy to violate rights. (Here the constitutional right to vote for Biden.) Ironically, this post-Civil War statute was used during Watergate to convict Nixon's top domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichman, plus Gordon Liddy, et al for a warrantless entry into a doctor's office looking for info to discredit Dan Ellsberg after he leaked national security information. The coverage of this criminal statute should make Trump shudder. With h/t to JWV see
https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-ehrlichm...But take a look at intent in this paragraph:
"Dealing with the two arguments together, the court first concludes that the specific intent needed for a conviction under section 241
DOES NOT REQUIRE recognition by the defendant of the unlawfulness of his acts, but ONLY AN INTENT TO COMMIT ACTIONS which in fact deprive a citizen of constitutional rights which are firmly established and plainly applicable. (Op. at ___-___ of 178 U.S.App.D.C., at 919-923 of 546 F.2d). The court upholds the trial judge's ruling that the intrusion infringed Dr. Fielding's firmly established Fourth Amendment right, because the legal theory advanced to justify the warrantless search is clearly inapplicable. "
So this statute only requires that intent to commit the actions be proven, not that they understand they are unlawful and the belief that the election is stolen doesn't enter into it.
