“If you come after me, I’m coming after you.”

By Thomas Coffin

Surrounded by accountability for his relentless assault on democracy and illegal attempts to overthrow an election he lost, including a violent insurrection, an ex-president served notice that “If you come after me, I’m coming after you.”

This was no idle threat. True to his words, Trump’s supporters have published the names and addresses of the grand jury members who returned an indictment in Georgia against him and his co-conspirators for alleged criminal acts associated with his efforts in that state to falsify the results of the people’s votes to award him the electoral votes for Georgia. (See Trump’s most racist supporters are coming to his defense.)

There can be no misunderstanding about the meaning or the patent dangers to the people who find themselves in the crosshairs of a would-be tyrant with a personal agenda of seizing power, damn whatever the will of the people may be. By targeting jurors, his supporters are declaring war on the rule of law itself and the duty of citizens to serve their country by participating in democracy. By posting addresses and names, they signify they will strike at jurors’ homes and families.

This act is designed to serve notice on the people themselves—you must join us in dismantling the Constitution and accept totalitarianism and a dictator or incur the wrath we will bring down on you.

“We will come after you.” The message could not be more clear. It is another Pearl Harbor moment for America. As I have oft mentioned, our jury system is the essence and core of democracy, a unique contrast from autocratic regimes which feature only iron rule by the fist of tyrants. The ominous threats to grand jurors in Georgia set the tone for the already delicate task of jury selection in the multiple trials of the indictments that have been filed. Such is the purpose of these blatant threats against our nation’s time-honored system of justice. We must not surrender our heritage and our future to these tactics. We must stand firm and resolute against them to preserve our democracy.

Any other individual charged with such serious offenses would have his release pending trial jeopardized if not revoked entirely by these actions that have been taken against the jurors who voted to indict him. No one is beyond or above the law.

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Thomas Coffin was the keynote speaker at the Blackberry Pie Society’s Political Party in February, 2020 and at Politics and Pie in October, 2022. He is a retired federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon and a former professor at the UO Law School. Thomas retired in 2016 after 24 years on the bench, prior to which he had a career as a federal prosecutor spanning 21 years. He is married with 7 children.

The Blackberry Pie Society is pleased to include a collection of his essays on our website. We will post them as they become available.

posted 9.1.2023