A very timely topic article from SALON with the below headline that
should be of a major concern to all of us in these times of national and
political turmoil:
“Outlaw lawyers and outlaw
presidents: A brief history of legal perfidy”
From the article – key points right up front – in my view:
There are at least five
lawyers among the unindicted co-conspirators mentioned in Jack Smith's August 1
indictment of Trump on charges related to the January 6 Capitol attack and the
attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In addition, the related
Georgia RICO indictments of Trump and 18 co-defendants on August 14 involve a
roster of alleged lawless lawyers, including but not limited to: Rudy Giuliani,
John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro.
The multiple overlapping
conspiracies laid out by Fulton County DA Fani Willis, supported by a broad
array of evidence, appear far more threatening to our rule of law and
constitutional democracy than were the Watergate crimes.
The rest of this fine
article (formatted for the blog):
What makes the failed coup
attempt by Trump and his co-conspirators on January 6 much more serious than
any previous threat to American democracy since the Civil War is that the GOP’s
infrastructure and its majority in the House of Representatives, along with
many members of the U.S. Senate, are all-in on defending these crimes and in
supporting an anti-democratic and authoritarian agenda driven by one man: Trump.
State crimes committed by
outlaw lawyers who endanger the rule of law on behalf of a president (or, in the current instance, the former president)
are not without precedent in modern American history.
Most recently, such crimes all have happened under the “Law
and Order” administrations of Republican Presidents: Richard Nixon, Ronald
Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
To be specific: “Outlaw lawyers” describes attorneys who have
abandoned the practices of representing or counseling clients consistent with
their oaths to support the Constitution and laws of the United States as well
as those of all states where they are licensed to practice.
For the purposes of this examination, Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. Bush (the chief architect of the Iran-Contra affair), along with George W. Bush more than a decade later, are bracketed and set aside.
That's primarily because their state crimes were international in scope — which certainly is no excuse, but posed no viable or practical threat to the domestic rule of law or to American democracy as such.
Consider the two relevant domestic case studies, one of them still very much a work in progress.
With respect to the threat to
the rule of law and American democracy, Nixon's Watergate scandal pales in comparison to Trump's January 6 failed
coup.
We can also say that in the case of Nixon and his “outlaw lawyers” that justice was swift and relatively unforgiving.
In the case of Trump's outlaw lawyers, justice has
already been delayed too long, and the verdict is still out on how much legal
accountability will materialize.
This anti-democratic agenda is visible not only in the fact
that Trump has already more or less secured the 2024 GOP presidential
nomination (whether or not he is convicted
of a crime and sent to prison), but also in the continuing “extracurricular
activities in red states,” including voter disenfranchisement, restricting voter
access, and overtly racial or partisan gerrymandering in AL, WI, and various
other like-minded states.
My 2 Cents: An excellent article that is timely in the current criminal history of Trump and his “outlaw lawyers” (pictured above minus a couple).
They all hope he will fulfill his promise to pardon them (that he has stated numerous times, but knowing him, probably is doubtful) at least in my view, but we have to wait and see.
Thanks for stopping
by.
No comments:
Post a Comment