Our courts have proven themselves an inadequate defense of democracy
...and the rule of law.
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision granting a combination of “absolute” and “presumptive” immunities that apply to all so-called “official” presidential acts, much of the focus has been on the Justice Dept.'s backpedaling - first from the initial indicting of Trump for directing the DOJ to commit crimes, and then from the indictments themselves after he was reelected.
But we've mostly ignored the wave of capitulation and outright obstruction of prosecuting Trump from judges and justices more engaged with finding loopholes in the prosecution than his defense team.
The capitulation seems almost complete as you listen to Judge Merchan adopt the perverse illogic of the Supreme Court dons in his decision to protect Trump from punishment like a mafia lieutenant afraid of getting bumped off for disobeying his boss' orders.
But the real disgrace was the way he blamed his own recalcitrance to punish Trump on the people who voted, as if the verdict wasn't dealt out by a jury of his peers, but is really a political decision up for popular vote in an election.
"The protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor," Merchan told Trump from the bench. " Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is the office of the president that bestows those far-reaching protections to the office-holder. And it was a citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections which include, among other things, the supremacy clause and presidential immunity."
The absolute cynicism in that disingenuous claim that it was the voter who tied his hands is compounded by his OWN decision to delay sentencing until after the election, knowing full well the consequence would be this faint of throwing up his hands like he's helpless to impose punishment.
We all watched as Trump displayed utter disregard for the court, in proceedings and when he left the courtroom; threatening the judge and his family, and showing zero remorse for the 34 felony counts he was found guilty of committing. But, still this judge wished the man who subverted an election and his courtroom, 'godspeed,' whatever that corruption of the term means in his weak and unconcerned mind.
Stating the obvious because, it's apparently not so obvious to many, prosecutions of Donald Trump have been routinely delayed by myriad, successive courts packed with republican and Trump-nominated judges and justices.
It made no difference to this judge that Trump was convicted by a jury in May 2024, or that he initially had set sentencing for July 11, more than enough time before we voted. Merchan dithered with ridiculous appeals and was so entranced with self serving whispering in Supreme Court rulings threatening to find immunity in the slightest of 'official acts' that he froze in place.
Like the multi-felony federal indictments that dropped in August 2023, this case should have been over and done before the election, but were deliberately delayed by judges and justices who have exclusive control over the scheduling of hearings, like we watched Judge Cannon manipulate like a Trump defense attorney as she worked toward a certain move to dismiss the charges altogether before a hearing.
So this isn't actually a case of just an institutional failure of the courts; it's a tyranny of justice orchestrated, albeit independently, in support of one party's political leader. All of them knew when the election would be held, and Trump compliant (mostly appeals) judges and justices advantaged themselves of that deadline to delay accountability for Trump until we voted with overtly political decisions and rulings.
We know that when interested and concerned, courts can act with speed and decisiveness; mostly against average citizens without the protections Donald Trump was afforded. That makes this not only a tyranny of justice, but a travesty, as well.
= new reply since forum marked as read
a prosecutor or judge who wants to "climb the ladder" (and stay out of 'trouble') can get a lot more prosecutions on the record by going after the poor slobs, right? Them fat cats can just drag things out and eat up your budget that could have been spent on getting a lot more convictions on the record, right?
(TBH: I don't know nuthin' about the legal profession.)
