Cynic that I have become, I wondered why major media helped our nation grapple with the prospect of rampant police brutality and militarization in its midst. After all, some particularly brutal trampling of rights has stemmed from aspects of America’s legal system that seem subject to major media black-outs. So I was skeptical of the recent ease with which millions of Americans publicly and passionately condemned blue-collar law enforcement officers while elite private lawyers, powerful prosecutors, and the judiciary operate with virtual impunity in our country. Then I noticed the ABC News headline, Lear Jet Justice in West Virginia? A 'Circus Masquerading as a Court'
“Lear Jet Justice in West Virginia?” ABC News posed that question today*, quoting a Hofstra Law School expert who says of the situation, ‘(t)his is a circus masquerading as a court’. The professor references West Virginia’s Supreme Court and a multi-million dollar judgment its Chief Justice joined in affirming for a big contributor to her re-election campaign who also purchased from her husband a $1.3 million Lear Jet, all shortly before receiving the High Court win. I could hardly believe attention was accordingly diverted from anger emanating from Ferguson, Missouri, to another problematic aspect of America’s legal system.
Cynic that I have become, I wondered why major media helped our nation grapple with the prospect of rampant police brutality and militarization in its midst. After all, some particularly brutal trampling of rights has stemmed from aspects of America’s legal system that seem subject to major media black-outs. So I was skeptical of the recent ease with which millions of Americans publicly and passionately condemned blue-collar law enforcement officers while elite private lawyers, powerful prosecutors, and the judiciary operate with virtual impunity in our country.
Chase Madar^, a New York civil rights attorney, recently noted that “(a)ll over the country, the issue of restraining police power is framed around the retribution against individual cops, from Staten Island to Milwaukee to Los Angeles.” The corresponding showcase of bad actors -- one or a relatively few bad cops at a time -- certainly suggests if not proves that America has serious, unchecked societal and governmental problems. Not everyone would agree, but I know the same conclusion is rarely if ever apparent from a line-up of ethically challenged lawyers and judges.
When lawyer or judicial misconduct is clear and easy to comprehend, the perpetrator is generally considered an aberration; a proverbial bad apple, quite distinct from the barrel that is America’s legal establishment. Neither the apple nor the barrel is easily tainted by complex challenges of lawyer or judicial ethics; professional disciplinary complaints alleging convoluted facts or law violations. Such matters tend to revert or resort to a metaphorical land in which reasonable minds disagree.
Disillusioned, I doubted that Facebook, Twitter, and the like would ever reverberate with outcry over legal system abuse. Of course to spark meaningful, positive change, the protests should not only address lawyer and judicial misconduct, but also avoidable failures of American government that leave those transgressions inadequately checked. In other words, average Americans should join ABC News in examining, and to the extent any of us feels comfortable, critiquing law-related systems and operations as well as individuals.
Zena
Attorney Zena Crenshaw-Logal, Executive Director**
National Judicial Conduct and Disability Law Project, Inc.
"The Law Project", www.njcdlp.org
7519 W. 77th Avenue
Crown Point, IN 46307
(o) 219.865.6774 Ext. 1
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(e) contactus@njcdlp.org
**Bar admissions limited to the 7th Cir. C.O.A.
*Lear Jet Justice in West Virginia? A 'Circus Masquerading as a Court'
^The Chase Madar article