A travesty of justice.
November 26, 2024
I am sending this short note to channel our communal outrage and disgust over the dismissal of the election interference and defense secrets criminal cases against Donald Trump.
Historians will shake their heads in disbelief that the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court failed to protect American democracy against a hostile takeover by a convicted felon who sought the presidency to escape justice.
Special counsel Jack Smith is blameless. He worked diligently to bring Trump to justice. After Trump's re-election, Smith asked the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel for guidance regarding continued prosecution of Trump. The Office of Legal Counsel told Smith it was impermissible to continue the prosecution of Trump in light of the DOJ’s existing policies and the immunity ruling in Trump v. US. Smith chose the only ethical path: He complied with the DOJ’s binding legal opinion and requested dismissal of the cases.
All of the blame belongs to Merrick Garland, the DOJ, and the Supreme Court.
Garland failed to bring Trump to justice in four years after a coup and insurrection that were not only televised but announced beforehand in speeches, tweets, and cable news appearances. Garland dithered until the testimony of 26-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson embarrassed him into appointing special counsel Jack Smith. But by then, it was too late. Garland allowed Trump to run out the clock.
Also at fault is the DOJ’s decades-old policy declaring that it may not investigate or indict a sitting president. That dubious policy granted the president protections not found in the Constitution. The DOJ compounded that original sin by expanding its policy to declare that it may not continue an existing prosecution against a non-president if that person is subsequently elected president. In its newest policy, the DOJ is affording protection nowhere found in the Constitution, and that is inimical to the nation’s founding principle that all persons are equal under the law.
The DOJ’s internal policy memo was the first step in converting the presidency into a dictatorship. The Supreme Court relied on the DOJ memo (in part) in fabricating presidential immunities nowhere found in the Constitution and whose existence would have shocked and scandalized the Framers.
The collective actions of Garland, the DOJ, and the Supreme Court have created an absurd and perverse result. They have converted the office of the presidency into the refuge of billionaire criminals who seek to evade justice for their crimes. The guilt or innocence of defendants becomes irrelevant; the ability to buy their way into the presidency supersedes the Constitution, the criminal laws of the United States, and the bedrock principle that no person is above the law.
Under the Garland-Roberts Impunity Doctrine, the only logical course for a billionaire guilty of criminal conduct is to run for president. “Hyperbole,” you say? That is exactly what Trump did. Other billionaires are waiting in the wings.
What is most disheartening about this outcome is that it was brought about by men and women who attended the finest law schools in the nation. They entered the legal profession with the noblest of motives. They had every advantage. They were fêted for their intellect and integrity. But they proved to be spineless, faithless, feckless servants who betrayed the democracy that lifted them to the pinnacle of the legal profession.
Shame on Merrick Garland.
Shame on John Roberts.
Shame on Samuel Alito.
Shame on Clarence Thomas.
Shame on Neil Gorsuch.
Shame on Brett Kavanaugh.
Shame on Amy Coney Barrett.
It will take decades to undo the damage they inflicted on the Constitution and the rule of law.
However, it will take much longer for Americans to recover their trust in the DOJ and Supreme Court. We have been betrayed—but it will be up to us, the victims of that betrayal, to pick up the pieces, repair the guardrails, and hold the bulwarks of democracy until we can undo the damage done by Garland and the Supreme Court.
Candidly, the present situation stinks to high heaven. But we have no choice. It is the only path forward. Let us proceed in righteous anger fortified by dedication to the principle that all persons are equal under the law—including the President of the United States.
I will talk to you tomorrow.
Daily Dose of Perspective
It is still overcast and drizzly in Los Angeles, so I cannot set my telescope outside. I republish below an image I captured in September. The Trifid Nebula is 4,100 light-years from Earth and 21 light-years in radius.
Tonight Lawrence O'Donnell said that "No one is above the law is a myth that endured for 248 years" in American history. We saw this coming, but today we know that officially the category exists of persons who are above the law in the American judicial system. What comes next is the clarification of what persons occupy that category. Only presidents? Only presidents with billionaire backing? Also billionaires who can afford the delay delay delay strategy indefinitely? I also blame Mitch McConnell--for what he personally did to the Court, and then what he personally did in managing the Senate not to convict on the second impeachment--when they all agreed he had committed crimes--while arguing that Trump was not getting away with anything because we have civil and criminal justice systems in this country. How is he sleeping now? The stain McConnell has left on America is also a stench.
I lifted this verbatim from the comment section of Joyce Vance's Newsletter tonight. It was posted there by Eric Lin Doub. I think it bears repeating here for anyone who didn't see it already.
"The future is bigger than our imaginations. It’s unimaginable, and then it comes anyway. To meet it we need to keep going, to walk past what we can imagine. We need to be unstoppable. And here’s what it takes: you don’t stop walking to congratulate yourself; you don’t stop walking to wallow in despair; you don’t stop because your own life got too comfortable or too rough; you don’t stop because you won; you don’t stop because you lost. There’s more to win, more to lose, others who need you.
"You don’t stop walking because there is no way forward. Of course there is no way. You walk the path into being, you make the way, and if you do it well, others can follow the route. You look backward to grasp the long history you’re moving forward from, the paths others have made, the road you came in on. You look forward to possibility. That’s what we mean by hope, and you look past it into the impossible and that doesn’t stop you either. But mostly you just walk, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. That’s what makes you unstoppable."
Rebecca Solnit