"The jury, he argued, was essentially allowed to conjure up damning evidence in their minds that may not have existed"
Well yes, that's exactly what the court will do if they find that you've been deleting evidence - they assume that whatever you deleted must have been damning to the case otherwise why would you have told employees to use "delete after 24h" communication channels?
it would be “nonsensical to imagine the framers of the amendment, fearful of former Confederates returning to power, would bar them from low-level offices but not the highest one in the land” - commented the lawyer