Mildred D. Robertson
Equal justice under the law is a phrase engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. It is also a societal ideal upon which the American legal system is founded. That tenet died today as Judge Juan Merchan treated Donald Trump differently from any other convicted felon in the United States. Merchan indicated about 10 days before the inauguration that he wasn't inclined to sentence Trump to prison and would likely give him an unconditional discharge. This means Trump will walk away a free man without further obligation to the court.
Although he is now a convicted felon, found guilty by a jury of his peers, those of us who believe in equal justice under the law are left with the knowledge that American justice is neither blind nor just. The rule of law in America is decimated.
It is breathtaking that the President-Elect is a convicted felon, who nonetheless is free of any accountability. It is farcical to assert that the U.S. judicial system metes out justice based upon the merits of the facts regardless of the individual being judged. The trope that our legal system is balanced and unbiased is just that...banal platitudes.
America's plummet from the apex of world leadership continues as U.S. politics chips away at the foundation of what made us unique and admired. No amount of media spin can make this look normal or acceptable, though they are currently making a valiant effort to do so.
Just as Hans Christian Andersen's famed book, "The Emperor's New Clothes," exposed the emperor's nakedness America is unmasked...exposed. Everyone can see who we are. And it is not a pretty sight.
No comments:
Post a Comment