Andrew Jennings blogs:

The People v. Donald J. Trump invites a deeper consideration of the normative and pragmatic bases for criminalizing recordkeeping-related conduct. In a new article, I observe that recordkeeping crimes are more than mere foot faults pursued when meatier offenses cannot be charged. Rather, I argue that recordkeeping prohibitions in connection with criminal activity are justified because they enable illicit conduct. In Trump’s case, for instance, prosecutors allege that recordkeeping misconduct enabled him to illicitly evade public-disclosure obligations and thus conceal information that might have been material to voters amidst a presidential election.