With only one year of law school, I didn’t get to take the class that teaches lawyers how to ignore the Constitution and the law.
Why only one year? Because the profession has devolved into nothing more, nothing less, than a competition of egos; a game.
Everyone has heard attorneys being referred to as ‘officers of the court.’ What does that mean? It means that their prime role is to serve justice on behalf of the community, the state, the country, by determining the truth. And, all of this time you thought their responsibility was to put someone in prison, and to keep someone out. Determining the truth and serving justice is the responsibility of both the prosecution and the defense. They are not supposed to be on different sides. They are supposed to be partners.
But, we find every prosecutor trying to get a conviction. We find every defense attorney trying for exoneration of a client. The attorneys on both sides put winning as not their primary goal but their only goal. The truth be damned. Justice? Don’t be silly. The role of a defense attorney is to ensure that thee accused’s rights are respected. Have you ever heard of it being handled that way? No.
Now the news is fixated on whether or not the president can be indicted, whether or not the president can pardon himself. Were a course in logic required to be warded a law degree, there would be no hint of a question. The answers are all in the Constitution, if they bothered to try reading with comprehension. If that is too much to ask, they might get the taxpayers to fork over enough money for a history book or two.
My guess is that the Founders failed to appreciate how ignorant their successors could be. Without any rational basis the Department of Justice holds that a president cannot be indicted. Let’s look at this.
King George the Third was above the law. Didn’t we have a revolution to rid ourselves of both George and his privileged status? The two go hand-in-hand. Otherwise, we would have just handed that privileged position to a succession of others.
Surely you aren’t contending that if the president, as Trump posited, were to kill someone in Times Square, he would be immune from indictment. And yes, indicting him would interfere with his ability to carry on the functions of the office unimpeded. I think impeachment might also interfere a bit and everyone except Trump, Rudy Giuliani , Brett Kavanaugh, et alia, would agree. So, interfering with Trump’s rounds of golf functioning as president isn’t really an argument of any substance.
Did the Founders intend that the president be immune from punishment for misdeeds, political, criminal or of any other species? Obviously not. Do the denizens of the DOJ not think impeachment is the holding of the president to account? Impeachment can, for all practical purposes, be based on anything the Congress wishes.
The Founders expected it to be used for matters such as treason, malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance, behavior related to the holding of the presidency. Surely they would not have considered it reasonable to involve the House and Senate in a trial for murder or other grave felony unrelated to his office. Wouldn’t that interfere with the operation of Congress? Though it might make sense to a herd of lawyers in the DOJ, it doesn’t make sense to those unburdened with a law degree to use an institution that is supposed to be legislating when it is possible to find 12 people to sit in the jury box.
Can the president pardon himself? That would be a serious question only to those as moronic as Trump. Obstruction of justice is a serious crime. For a president to insert himself into the process for the purpose of shielding himself is, prima facie, obstruction of the process. As above, we disposed of kingship. No one in our system is privileged by exemption from the laws of the land. All elected officials are public servants. Servants do not enjoy privileges beyond those of their masters. This inane contention is one more example of the already partially successful campaign to reduce us from citizens to subjects.
The purpose of the executive is to execute the laws, not circumvent them.
No, Trump cannot crown himself.
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Comments were shut down for over a year due to spam. This feature is now open again. Many of you want to express your opinions or, irrationally, disagree with my article. Have at it.