Why Is the Elite Class Protected Under America's Justice System?

[midnight]

http://www.truthout.org/why-elite-class-protected-under-americas-justice-system/1319566022


"Actually, what is happening with the Occupy Wall Street protests is as perfect an illustration of the book's argument as anything I could have imagined. The book's central theme is that law is no longer what it was intended to be - a set of rules equally binding everyone to ensure that outcome inequalities are at least legitimate - and instead has become the opposite: a tool used by the politically and financially powerful to entrench their own power and control the society. That's how and why the law now destroys equality and protects the powerful.

What we see with the protests demonstrates exactly how that works. The police force - the instrument of law enforcement - is being used to protect powerful criminals who have suffered no consequences for their crimes. It is simultaneously used to coerce and punish the powerless: those who are protesting and who have done nothing wrong, yet are subjected to an array of punishment ranging from arrest to pepper spray and other forms of abuse.

That's what the two-tiered justice system is: elites are immunized for egregious crimes while ordinary Americans are subjected to merciless punishment for trivial transgressions."

"Many of them have spent their whole careers as lawyers serving power. They are corporate lawyers, or prosecutors, or party activists. So their empathy and understanding is reserved exclusively for those in their circles: the powerful. They also know that their future career aspirations as judges - especially lower court judges looking to advance - depend on their not alienating those in power. That produces high levels of deference to the powerful and an instinct to protect large institutions over powerless individuals. Again, there are some exceptions, but this is largely what the federal judiciary has become, and that is the opposite of what it should be: it was meant to level the playing field by applying blind justice, not exacerbating it through insular, self-regarding socio-economic biases."

[Scuba]

1. Why are we fascinated with royalty?

[Orrex]

2. Because most laws are principally intended to protect the nobles from the serfs

Nothing new under the sun.

[midnight]

3. " Courts are supposed to be the last resort to correct injustice."

" They are supposed to be immunized from political influences - that's why federal judges have life tenure and aren't elected - and thus able freely to vindicate the rights of the powerless over the powerful when the law calls for that. Few institutions have abdicated their institutional duties as much as the federal courts. I see Bush v. Gore more as naked partisanship in a war between two competing power factions (the 2 political parties) than I do as a double standard of justice, but it does reflect how corrupted the judiciary has become and how far astray they are from how they are supposed to function."

[midnight]

4. Louise Slaughter is demanding referring Thomas' apparent misdeeds to the Attorney General

One of the bedrock principles of democracy is that nobody is above the law — not even Supreme Court justices like Clarence Thomas.

Thomas has flouted the law for years by failing to disclose his wife's substantial income despite being legally required to report it.

That is why U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter is demanding that the Judicial Conference, an administrative arm of the court, uphold the Ethics in Government Act by referring Thomas' apparent misdeeds to the Attorney General for further investigation.

Rep. Slaughter has written a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, who is the presiding officer of the Judicial Conference, about this, and she has invited Americans to add their voice by co-signing the letter (which you can read below).

Co-sign Rep. Slaughter's letter demanding action on Clarence Thomas. Click here to automatically add your name.

It's inconceivable that a Supreme Court justice like Clarence Thomas would be unable to understand how to fill out the simple disclosure forms. And now information has come out showing Thomas accurately filled out the form for years before abruptly failing to do so.

Failure to disclose is a serious breach of the law, and the Ethics in Government Act requires the U.S. Judicial Conference to refer any judge to the Attorney General whom the Conference "has reasonable cause to believe has willfully failed to file a report or has willfully falsified or willfully failed to file information required to be reported." 1

We need to make sure Chief Justice Roberts knows the eyes of Congress and the American people are on him, and we need to raise our voices and demand he take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/slaughter_letter/index2.html?r=231689&id=29195-1941029-_vBWt0x

Co-sign Rep. Slaughter's letter demanding action on Clarence Thomas. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Thank you for speaking out.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. The "law" is an illusion, bought and paid for by the TBTF's:

Justice, if you can afford it!