Dear Reader, 

It’s time to put some teeth into the gag orders. 

Last week, Judge Juan M. Merchan became the third judge to enter a gag order against Donald Trump, only to see the former president promptly attack the judge’s own daughter on social media. Family members of the judge were not technically included in the language of the order, which prohibited Trump from “[m]aking or directing others to make public statements about…the family members of any counsel or staff member.”

After Judge Merchan entered the gag order preventing Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and jurors, Trump claimed the judge’s daughter had posted on social media an image of Trump behind jail cell bars. Even after the New York court system issued a statement denying that the account belonged to Merchan’s daughter, Trump did not retract the claim.