You don't know what happened.
Judge Carter is a decorated Vietnam vet, he was at Khe Sahn. Not much would scare him personally.
Just suppose that threats against him, personally, had no effect.
A man who cannot be moved by fear may be moved by love. What would he (or you?) do if all of the sudden some showed up in your office with pictures of your favorite granddaughter getting off her school bus, with cross-hairs drawn on her face? Just a friendly little talk, find legal grounds to dismiss this case, hire a lawyer we select to keep an eye on you...
Not saying it happened, but what if?
(If something even vaguely like this happened they have made a life-long enemy paybacks gonna be a cast iron 6itch)
He sold out his honor. He sold out the Marines in Afghanistan. He sold out America.
Judge Carter’s tone certainly changed. I believe he was threatened and your scenario is plausible. But it doesn’t explain Cheney not calling for objections or a bunch of other strange happenings.
What threat could compel everyone to go along with this coup?
We need to prep for 2010 and see how deep this rabbit hole goes.