Seeking Justice in America

AMONG THE MARVELS OF THE modern world, the American judicial system stands, quite possibly, alone at the top. Nobody knows exactly where it came from; England, Europe, anciet Greece and Rome, the Bible, the Good Lord, all of the above. Nobody understands all of it, or even much of it. Lawyers and law professors pick out their own little legal specialty, and leave the rest, a huge amount, alone. But it works like a charm. Matched in the system of checks and balances with the legislative and executive branches is the judicial branch of government, Americans alternately accuse all three branches of having too much power relative to the ohter two, which can only mean that the balance is perfect. The only time the judicial system fails in America is when the other two branches mess it up, by failing to agree on judicial appointments over politics. Being conservative, or being liberal, does not disqualify someone from being a good judge. And after all, everyone is either one or the other. Throughout American history the judicial system has been flawed, and has rendered horrible decisions. Turning blacks into three fifths of a person in the constitution was not a good start. the Fugitive Slave Act was horrendous, as was Plessy vs Ferguson (spearate but equal). The Scopes trial was doung incorrectly. there are many more examples of judicial miscarriages in American jurisprudence; but, in the fullness of time, the system is self correcting, like good science. The Unites States, by being founded late in history, was founded in the age of lawyers, and expanding legal systems. America has from the beginning been a legalistic, litigous nation. Today one third of all the lawyers in the world are American, and most of them have plenty of work. The O.J.Simpson verdict was horrendous, as was the Zimmerman verdict. But, surely we must all agree; 'tis better to set criminals free than to imprison innocent citizens. Best to err on the side of leniency, which we, we hope and trust, do.