I just saw this headline on a news aggregator:
“Volatile Fallout After Angry Reactions To Court-Approved Search Warrant For Trump’s Florida Estate”
And I wondered: What is the phrase court-approved doing in the headline?
Of course, the search warrant was approved by a court. Does anyone think it wasn’t? It would be like specifying Trump’s American Florida Estate.
I suspect the idea is that the typical reader will think something like: Well, if the court approved the search, then the search must be legitimate, right?
I also suspect that this might have the desired effect, but only up to a certain point. And I think that the Mar-a-Lago raid may be on the far side of that point.
So the Justice Department, with the help of the media, is trying to borrow the perceived legitimacy of the courts to make this seem like something other than what so many people can so clearly see that it is.
But in this case, I think it’s not going to lift the reputation of the Justice Department up. On the contrary, it’s going to drag the reputation of the courts down, like Captain Ahab being drowned by Moby Dick.
That is, a lot of readers are probably thinking something like: Well, if the court approved the search, then the court must be illegitimate, right?
It’s a great question and one that should be asked more often.
