REUTERS/Kevin Fogarty/Photo... Read moreAug 1 (Reuters) - The charges brought against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday in the federal election interference case are based in part on a law enacted in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War to protect the rights of Black people.
Federal prosecutors base one charge, conspiring to deprive citizens of constitutional or legal rights, on a law enacted during post-Civil War Reconstruction in 1870, when federal lawmakers sought to integrate into society enslaved people who had been freed.
The scheme explicitly targeted Black voters.
Trump could argue that he is innocent because he did not intend to break the law.
But even if prosecutors have a strong legal case, Trump would need just one holdout juror to trigger a mistrial.
Persons:
Donald Trump, Kevin Fogarty, Read, Trump, Joe Biden's, Kristy Parker, Joe Biden, “, Parker, Black, disenfranchisement, Hillary Clinton, Trump's, ”, Eric Gibson, ” Gibson, Jack Queen, Sarah N, Lynch, Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller
Organizations:
U.S, REUTERS, U.S ., Republican, Democracy, Klux Klan, Prosecutors, Supreme, Trump, Congress, Washington , D.C, Thomson
Locations:
U.S . Civil, Black, Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, U.S, New York, Washington ,