“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” Benjamin Franklin
As noted last week in Dry Bones, our unique governance system is all connected. When those in power do not understand the system and damage it by neglect or deliberately mangle it, all parts are affected. Every reader knows that if one starts favoring one part of the body the other parts that must take up the slack soon become affected, also. Our revered judicial system is now being mangled. Here are some of the signs:
Judicial lack of required impartialty.
Judicial neglect of basic Due Process.
Judicial rulings that shock the conscience.
Judicial disregard for the Bill of Rights.
Judicial misunderstanding of the Doctrine of the Black Robe.
Miss Constitution is not talking about expected judicial corruption in any system. She is not talking about the lack of judicial seriousness and scholarship that exists at all times and in all ages. She is not talking about personal decorum, integrity of purpose, or legal genius that crosses centuries. She is talking about deliberately destroying the intricacies of detail that actually make the American judicial system what it is – that institution whose bones hold all the other aspects of our governance system together, and in addition, accounts for capital investment in America from around the world.
Capital investment from around the world?
Yes. America’s prosperity, in part, relies on capital investment from around the world. This capital funds new and innovative industries that employ thousands of people; undergirds our private market system; and is the basis for retirement account values that sustain American retirees for decades. One of the main reasons private capital flows into America for investment is the stability of our judicial system. This stability also partly accounts for the dollar being the reserve currency of the world. Careless and childish mangling of the judicial system in New York, the center of our national finance structure, if not corrected quickly, can have devastating affects on the average American – employment opportunities, financial progress over time, and sufficient retirement assets for the increased life expectancy Americans enjoy.
That institution whose bones hold all the other aspects of our governance system together?
Yes. It is true that on the federal level our governance system envisions three co-equal branches – the Executive branch, the Congressional branch, and the Judicial branch. The system can sustain, and has sustained historically, dizzying heights of incompetence, corruption, and laziness in the Executive branch and the Legislative branch, in part because both have relied on the stability and minimal corruption in the Judicial branch. This reliance is unravelimg – both at federal and state levels.
Intricacies of detail that actually make the American judicial system what it is?
Yes. We are a Common Law country as opposed to a Civil Law country. This means that recorded judicial decisions going all the way back to 1066 AD and Norman rule in England are part of this detail. Civil law countries rely solely on statutes to govern them. Corrupt and malicious statutes can destroy a whole country. Our common law, in contrast, represents judicial decisions prior to our becoming a country and represents the “wisdom of the ages” that protects us against corruption in the legislative branch.
Our Western system developed as hierarchical and centralized. This gave our legal development procedural consistency that citizens could count on against the whims of tyrants. Many early English cases were about private property rights that are the basis of the American economy. Judges were well-educated scholars, for the most part, decisions were recorded, thereby requiring stable housing for those decisions (courthouses), and libraries to study them.
We also inherited the concept of Equity Courts, decided on a case-by-case basis where the strict application of law and procedure would result in an injustice. While the common law and equitable law merged in the United States federal courts in 1938, some states still maintain Courts of Equity known as Chancery Courts. Many corporations incorporate in these states due to the maintenance of an alternative to law courts where a fair, just result is not possible. The Founders rejected separate federal Equity Courts in favor of a robust jury system. Equity Courts rely on bench rulings. The 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution represents the Founder’s connection and vision regarding the importance of our common law in civil as well as criminal cases:
“In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”
Some of the corruption in our judicial system today could be mitigated by more jury not bench trials – just as the Founders envisioned. Many judges have forgotten that once appointed, they must forget who appointed them – the Doctrine of the Black Robe – and maintain a demeanor of fairness and impartiality at all times. Sentencing must meet these requirements, as well. Miss Constitution cannot explain an appellate court deciding guilt on facts not established by trial – an appalling lack of Due Process. “No person shall. . .be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. . .” Amendment V, United States Constitution.
These corruptions are often handed off to the Supreme Court of the United States as an unnecessary burden, blurring the original outrage and putting the Justices in the untenable position of taking the case and being personally threatened with physical harm, or refusing the case and participating in further mangling the national judicial system. International investors are watching in disbelief as this is going on in the United States right now. They will be looking to invest elsewhere unless the American public puts a stop to it.
Our unique American judicial system is a gift to us from the past and the bones that connect all. There is no system like it in the world. There are remedies in it for damaging statutes, tyrannical Presidents and bureaucrats, and slimy judges. As Winston Churchill advised a young Elizabeth II, “the further back you can look, the further forward you can see.” Oh say, can we see?
