Attacking the Rule of Law

September 14, 2022  By James V. DeLong

One of the most hallowed traditions of the U.S. republic is a commitment to the ideal of the Rule of Law.  Therefore, one of the most dystopic aspects of our current politics is that this ideal is under deliberate attack.

The list of assaults is long and varied.  Consider:

• Biden's cancelation of student loan debt and the EPA rule recently struck down by the Supreme Court, both of which are instances of the habitual efforts of the Executive to seize upon supposed statutory ambiguities to claim vast powers never contemplated by Congress, and to use this to transfer resources to favored constituencies.

• The treatment of the January 6 defendants, who are being deprived of constitutional rights; subjected to harsh punishments for trivial offenses; and railroaded by politically motivated prosecutors, judges, and juries.

In these cases, and in a host of others, it is not believable that the contempt for the Rule of Law is an accident or oversight.  It is an essential feature, intended to demonstrate that the Rule of Law no longer has substance, that, in the classic words of A Man for All Seasons, the laws have been cut down, and we are naked to the winds that now do blow.

So how did we get here?..................  To Read More..

• Paul Sperry Unpacks the Trump-Hillary Double Standard: For Her, the FBI Helped Obstruct Its Own Investigation - by Paul Sperry September 15, 2022 -  Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch obtained evidence that a computer contractor working under the direction of Hillary Clinton’s legal team destroyed subpoenaed records that the former secretary of state stored on a private email server she originally kept at her New York home, and then lied to investigators about it. Yet no charges were brought against Clinton, her lawyers, or her paid consultant. The leniency accorded to Clinton contrasts with recent moves by Attorney General Merrick Garland to aggressively investigate former President Trump and his lawyers for allegedly obstructing investigators’ efforts to locate subpoenaed records at his Florida home. Legal experts say the apparent double standard may provide a useful defense for Trump and his legal team...............
•  Supreme Court Temporarily Sides with LGBTQ Group at Jewish University- ABC News reports that the court voted 5-4 to lift a temporary hold on a lower court order requiring Yeshiva University in New York to formally recognize the group, YU Pride Alliance. However, the legal battle over the group’s claims against the university is ongoing in the state of New York........The minority, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, argued that the hold on the lower court ruling should have remained in place.......The Constitution, Alito writes, “prohibits a State from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture. Yet that is exactly what New York has done in this case, and it is disappointing that a majority of this Court refuses to provide relief.”..........

My Take - To say Kavanaugh has been a disappointment would be an understatement.