Manhattan’s most high-profile courtroom battle is far from finished. After securing 34 felony convictions, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg appeared to have closed the book on Donald Trump. But late Monday, Trump’s legal team filed a sweeping appeal that challenges not just the verdict, but the legitimacy of the case itself.

The appeal argues that prosecutors stretched the law beyond recognition, transforming what Trump’s lawyers describe as a routine nondisclosure agreement dispute into a historic felony prosecution. They claim Bragg improperly elevated bookkeeping violations into felonies by relying on an undefined and never-proven “second crime,” a move they say violates constitutional limits and turns criminal statutes into political tools.

Supporters of Trump view the appeal as a long-overdue confrontation with a justice system they believe has treated the case as spectacle rather than law. They argue the prosecution reflected a broader pattern of politicized enforcement, cheered on by partisan headlines and public theatrics rather than grounded legal precedent.

If the appeals court agrees, the consequences could extend well beyond Trump himself. A ruling against Bragg’s legal theory could overturn the convictions and set a powerful precedent limiting how prosecutors use creative interpretations of criminal law. At stake is not only the future of the case, but a broader warning about how far politically charged prosecutions can go before the courts draw a line.