In the mid-1950s, when Jim Crow laws reigned in Alabama, state attorney general John M. Patterson – later a Ku Klux Klan-supported governor – filed a lawsuit against the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The suit alleged that the NAACP was violating a state statute concerning the registration of out-of-state corporations. In reality, the legal action was a thinly veiled attempt to cripple the NAACP by revealing its roster of supporters’ names and addresses to the government and the public.

During his cross-examination of Michael Cohen on Thursday, Donald Trump’s attorney shouted at witness Michael Cohen, “You lied!” It was a moment that received breathless attention from the media, which attached great significance to the defense claim that Cohen omitted part of a call he made to Keith Schiller, Trump’s security aide, in October 2016 – almost eight years ago. The evidence showed that Cohen had asked Schiller for help in dealing with a threatening text messenger (who later claimed to be 14-year-old).