This is CBS I On The World.

Here's John Batchler.

The headline in the editor page of the Wall Street Journal is Stark.

Pandora's Donald Trump prosecution.

I welcome Conrad Black, a distinguished historian of American and Canadian affairs.

The book I highly recommend, Flight of the Eagle.

The grand strategies that brought America from colonial dependence to world leadership.

And I call on Conrad Lord Black to comment on my understanding there is no precedent for what we're witnessing.

The indictment by a prosecutor, in this case a city prosecutor, of a former president of the United States,

who's conducting a campaign for re-election.

Conrad, a very good evening to you.

Is there any precedent, or have we moved into what is generally understood as uncharted territory?

Good evening to you.

Yeah, good evening to you, John.

You know, you're empty to do right. There isn't a precedent for this.

I've said a couple of things I've written in the last two weeks.

The two traditional guardrails, the ultimate guardrails of the American system.

The courts will not overturn the apparent result of a presidential election.

We saw that in 2020. We saw it in 2000 with Bush and Gore.

And it hasn't really been tested at other times, but questionable elections were resolved in other ways.

But the courts won't touch it. And in 2020, the courts at every level declined to take on the constitutional cases.

They declined to hear them for procedural reasons and did not adjudicate the merits at all.

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