Even respecting the rule of law, many of us interested onlookers bemoan the slow pace of the law, the excessively meticulous sealing airtight of FBI and Department of Justice cases against anti-Americans acting against our nation right up to the ex-president's doors. We are dismayed by the pacing of case building for several reasons. 1. No case is ever airtight in the genre of cable TV stories typically brought to conclusion by the end of the hour show. In my own experience with 6 and 12 person juries in local and federal cases, jurors can make decisions based on the facts given by district attorneys and attorneys general with less than airtight evidentiary tracks. Most of us can tell the difference between such small gaps in evidence and gaping holes leading to defense attorney wins as they generate reasonable doubt that doesn't measure up to common sense and ordinary actions of people including criminals. So excessive delays by AG Garland in presenting cases for trial are irritating.
Once, as jury foreman, I pointed out to the one reluctant juror failing to vote for conviction in a drug case, the difference between soap operate trials and real evidentiary trials with small gaps in evidence like the one we were weighting, and immediately got the unanimous guilty vote.
2. Delaying the onset of importance cases like this quasi-espionage, quasi-document-theft one with the ex-president can open the door to spurious delay. This is often by design of the hard right and its leaders so often lately under indictment or within trials. Justice delayed is justice foregone. Witness our own Bill of Rights demands a 'speedy trial'. Remember the case of Mueller's for obstruction of justice and collusion/cooperation between the ex-president and foreign interests who were Russians. With such delay comes the greater possibility of political interference to postpone, or even cancel, cases. The Mueller case, just mentioned, is infamous for its truncated FBI search for witnesses and evidence by partisan cabinet officials and the ex-president himself leading to dismissal of impeachment articles from the Senate trial, uniformly by Republican Senators. In the current documents case, with the Congressional election in 2 months, Republican takeover of that chamber might play havoc with resources and other obstruction moves by irratic 'Speaker' McCarthy. So more deliberate speed is called for.
So AG Garland should consider accelerating his timeline for bring the clearly guilty ex-president to trial and quick conviction. No 'guideline' of Justice to avoid political-seeming trials or other actions within 'election season' should prevail to bring to justice a guy who so cavalierly jeopardizes national security with secret documents and thumbs his nose at all legal processes--evidenced over decades in general and his term of office in particular. Let's get off the dime, Merrick Garland and FBI agents.
As usual, a thoughtful response.: I agree that the pace of the law is too slow, but I doubt that will change in the near term. Garland's considerations notwithstanding, the reality is there is a political component to any case involving Trump that either directly or subliminally affects the DoJ, raising the evidentiary bar. This results in a dilatory process, playing into the hands a defense attorneys who, holding a weak hand, use delay as a tactic.
One solution is obviously to appropriate more tax dollars to the judiciary- more judges, more clerks, more investigators. I'm not certain that would be for the long-term good, but it might be seen as a necessary short-term measure.
If the care and pace of AG Garland continues, he is establishing or reinforcing the reality of a 2-track judicial system. Care for facts, precedent, logical chains, legal interpretations are necessary but not exhaustive. Garland's judicial and case history should convince him to accelerate his schedule and I detect some movement toward more speed; i.e., short deadline suggested for his 'documents' judge to rule on one issue the past week. Let's hope so.
No doubt FBI and Justice have Trump supporters, but there are supervisors galore in both arenas to ensure all deliberate speed, no foot dragging from any employees. God knows, Congress has been slow to develop and spin off suggested legislation to account for and tighten both insurrection and processing of indictment cases that jeopardize our democracy. 'Do your job' should be the operating mantra throughout the Department and Bureau. We can see already as there are enough indictments and even convictions that defenses are minimal for illegal acts from top to bottom of the anti-American movement.
Given monolithic GOP opposition to any legislation it's not feasible this year to increase personnel or finances to protect democracy. Fortunately NGOs like ACLU, SPLC and Common Cause are taking up some slack in prosecutions. I am a donor and recommend it to all right minded Americans. We should aim to finish the beginning of reinforcing electoral and legal democratic processes this year; if the House and or Senate should turn Republican next year, the permanent monkey wrench may be thrown into all our efforts to protect democratic institutions from dictatorship at all governmental levels. We are only a short tick now from a Constitutional Convention to overturn 240+ years of our governing overarching legal system. Already in GOP majority ruled states, we have seen elected boards replaced with appointive czars (in Michigan primarily under ex-Gov. Schnyder). We see deliberate ignorance of people's problems and needs by Republicans (in Jackson MS water issues). And locally we have hair-brained interlopers at school board meetings disrupting their order and threatening members on scant pretext and unreal issues.
It's akin to the Gordian Knot immigration issue. More money, personnel and equipment would reduce the all-too-obvious problems, but nobody cares enough. In Justice, we may just be caring too much. Both generate inaction that jeopardizes democratic law and order, truth and justice, and the tenets of the Pledge of Allegiance. ( I hesitate to add the Scouting pledge but think of it.)
I find warnings of an impending civil war a bit histrionic, but I do believe we are seeing signs of mob rule at school board meetings, city council meetings, election boards, and other government offices. I've observed over time that when there is unrest within the population, it is due in part to failures or other actions of this or that elite, whether public or private.
When one party, the GOP in this era, acts as a monolith in power, we have trouble. With Trump and a monolith we have clear movement toward minority one-party rule outside of democratic principles. With Democrats in the White House and ruling both chambers of Congress, there's hope for the traditional way of life. If any large minority group leaves the Democrats--youths, women, Latinos --or fails to vote Democatic up and down ballot, we'll have anarchy, if not civil war. The John Birch Society of mid twentieth century infamy--no fluoride in the water comes to mind--has come to power under Trump and the GOP. God help us if we flag in energy to repulse the mindless, anti-science, strong-arm, conspiracy mongering right at the polls, or ensuring application of all laws to maintain peace. We may not see civil war but remember 1968 anti-war demonstrations, think Watts and Detroit riots, and Charlottesville marching. We must not only record current events for history, but suggest remedies as they occur to us. No filibuster, removing officials who violate laws, national election standards, continued working toward resolving severe problems like immigration and police killings of blacks.
Even respecting the rule of law, many of us interested onlookers bemoan the slow pace of the law, the excessively meticulous sealing airtight of FBI and Department of Justice cases against anti-Americans acting against our nation right up to the ex-president's doors. We are dismayed by the pacing of case building for several reasons. 1. No case is ever airtight in the genre of cable TV stories typically brought to conclusion by the end of the hour show. In my own experience with 6 and 12 person juries in local and federal cases, jurors can make decisions based on the facts given by district attorneys and attorneys general with less than airtight evidentiary tracks. Most of us can tell the difference between such small gaps in evidence and gaping holes leading to defense attorney wins as they generate reasonable doubt that doesn't measure up to common sense and ordinary actions of people including criminals. So excessive delays by AG Garland in presenting cases for trial are irritating.
Once, as jury foreman, I pointed out to the one reluctant juror failing to vote for conviction in a drug case, the difference between soap operate trials and real evidentiary trials with small gaps in evidence like the one we were weighting, and immediately got the unanimous guilty vote.
2. Delaying the onset of importance cases like this quasi-espionage, quasi-document-theft one with the ex-president can open the door to spurious delay. This is often by design of the hard right and its leaders so often lately under indictment or within trials. Justice delayed is justice foregone. Witness our own Bill of Rights demands a 'speedy trial'. Remember the case of Mueller's for obstruction of justice and collusion/cooperation between the ex-president and foreign interests who were Russians. With such delay comes the greater possibility of political interference to postpone, or even cancel, cases. The Mueller case, just mentioned, is infamous for its truncated FBI search for witnesses and evidence by partisan cabinet officials and the ex-president himself leading to dismissal of impeachment articles from the Senate trial, uniformly by Republican Senators. In the current documents case, with the Congressional election in 2 months, Republican takeover of that chamber might play havoc with resources and other obstruction moves by irratic 'Speaker' McCarthy. So more deliberate speed is called for.
So AG Garland should consider accelerating his timeline for bring the clearly guilty ex-president to trial and quick conviction. No 'guideline' of Justice to avoid political-seeming trials or other actions within 'election season' should prevail to bring to justice a guy who so cavalierly jeopardizes national security with secret documents and thumbs his nose at all legal processes--evidenced over decades in general and his term of office in particular. Let's get off the dime, Merrick Garland and FBI agents.
As usual, a thoughtful response.: I agree that the pace of the law is too slow, but I doubt that will change in the near term. Garland's considerations notwithstanding, the reality is there is a political component to any case involving Trump that either directly or subliminally affects the DoJ, raising the evidentiary bar. This results in a dilatory process, playing into the hands a defense attorneys who, holding a weak hand, use delay as a tactic.
One solution is obviously to appropriate more tax dollars to the judiciary- more judges, more clerks, more investigators. I'm not certain that would be for the long-term good, but it might be seen as a necessary short-term measure.
If the care and pace of AG Garland continues, he is establishing or reinforcing the reality of a 2-track judicial system. Care for facts, precedent, logical chains, legal interpretations are necessary but not exhaustive. Garland's judicial and case history should convince him to accelerate his schedule and I detect some movement toward more speed; i.e., short deadline suggested for his 'documents' judge to rule on one issue the past week. Let's hope so.
No doubt FBI and Justice have Trump supporters, but there are supervisors galore in both arenas to ensure all deliberate speed, no foot dragging from any employees. God knows, Congress has been slow to develop and spin off suggested legislation to account for and tighten both insurrection and processing of indictment cases that jeopardize our democracy. 'Do your job' should be the operating mantra throughout the Department and Bureau. We can see already as there are enough indictments and even convictions that defenses are minimal for illegal acts from top to bottom of the anti-American movement.
Given monolithic GOP opposition to any legislation it's not feasible this year to increase personnel or finances to protect democracy. Fortunately NGOs like ACLU, SPLC and Common Cause are taking up some slack in prosecutions. I am a donor and recommend it to all right minded Americans. We should aim to finish the beginning of reinforcing electoral and legal democratic processes this year; if the House and or Senate should turn Republican next year, the permanent monkey wrench may be thrown into all our efforts to protect democratic institutions from dictatorship at all governmental levels. We are only a short tick now from a Constitutional Convention to overturn 240+ years of our governing overarching legal system. Already in GOP majority ruled states, we have seen elected boards replaced with appointive czars (in Michigan primarily under ex-Gov. Schnyder). We see deliberate ignorance of people's problems and needs by Republicans (in Jackson MS water issues). And locally we have hair-brained interlopers at school board meetings disrupting their order and threatening members on scant pretext and unreal issues.
It's akin to the Gordian Knot immigration issue. More money, personnel and equipment would reduce the all-too-obvious problems, but nobody cares enough. In Justice, we may just be caring too much. Both generate inaction that jeopardizes democratic law and order, truth and justice, and the tenets of the Pledge of Allegiance. ( I hesitate to add the Scouting pledge but think of it.)
I find warnings of an impending civil war a bit histrionic, but I do believe we are seeing signs of mob rule at school board meetings, city council meetings, election boards, and other government offices. I've observed over time that when there is unrest within the population, it is due in part to failures or other actions of this or that elite, whether public or private.
When one party, the GOP in this era, acts as a monolith in power, we have trouble. With Trump and a monolith we have clear movement toward minority one-party rule outside of democratic principles. With Democrats in the White House and ruling both chambers of Congress, there's hope for the traditional way of life. If any large minority group leaves the Democrats--youths, women, Latinos --or fails to vote Democatic up and down ballot, we'll have anarchy, if not civil war. The John Birch Society of mid twentieth century infamy--no fluoride in the water comes to mind--has come to power under Trump and the GOP. God help us if we flag in energy to repulse the mindless, anti-science, strong-arm, conspiracy mongering right at the polls, or ensuring application of all laws to maintain peace. We may not see civil war but remember 1968 anti-war demonstrations, think Watts and Detroit riots, and Charlottesville marching. We must not only record current events for history, but suggest remedies as they occur to us. No filibuster, removing officials who violate laws, national election standards, continued working toward resolving severe problems like immigration and police killings of blacks.