Simplify the Law

[Draggingtree]

National Review

Simplify the Law

BY BENJAMIN H. BARTON & STEPHANOS BIBAS NR DIGITAL LATEST ARCHIVE ACCOUNT August 14, 2017, Issue

 Simplify the Law

An attorney shouldn’t be needed for every case As fans of the podcast Serial will recall, Baltimore teenager Adnan Syed was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The state’s case suffered from serious weaknesses: The government’s main witness was involved in burying the body, police had threatened to charge him unless he implicated Syed in the killing, he admitted to lying repeatedly to avoid blame, and his story conflicted with cell-phone call records. Syed was found guilty nonetheless.

 Readers familiar with the U.S. Constitution should find this puzzling. America is a nation founded on justice and the rule of law. We declared independence from England in part because King George III had repeatedly interfered with colonists’ legal rights and “the Administration of Justice.” The Pledge of Allegiance ends by affirming that our nation stands for “liberty and justice for all.”

Carved on the east face of the Supreme Court building is the inscription “Justice, the Guardian of Liberty.” For more than five centuries, statues have depicted Lady Justice blindfolded to represent the guarantee of equal justice for everyone.