Trump & the US Legal System

 .

This last few years stateside has seen (for those interested) a remarkable cacophony of legal cases featuring The Donald. 

I daresay these cases have really dominated the media world . 

And that means that the media have had the job of reporting on, and explaining legal stuff to their audiences.

Interestingly these cases are not the regular kind. They are complex. They are relatively novel. And for sure they are of high stakes.

The reporting is exposing large segments of the  public, both literate and illiterate, to the intricacies and delicacies and the US legal system.

Most in the audience are eager to earn The (final) Verdicts.
There is little comfort in saying The Matter is still before the Courts.

Allegations are one thing. Investigations another. Indictments yet another. Trial decisions will result but are not necessarily final. The appeal process itself is notoriously complex and varied by jurisdiction and other factors.

And one thing we are all learning in this circus, is that working through the legal system can take quite a long time. We are also being reminded that it takes a whole whack of cash to play the legal games (with lawyers, courts, judges, juries, and clerks/functionaires).   [Recently reported that for the period 2020 till the end of 2023, Donald had burned through $50,000,000.00 on lawyers - the funds coming from campaign raised funds]

And as observers of the situation and the system it is sensible to ask: How's the system functioning? Is it effective and efficient? Is it fair and just? 

Some say, me included, that the system is not effective, nor efficient. and partly for those reasons it is not as fair and just as it should be.
Mostly because the processes take too long and cost too much, which in turn compromises fairness and justice.

The legal systems have long had these characteristics. Trumps cases are serving to illuminate the problems.
Which is a good thing for the general public, so that they might have better insight into the systems that ultimately decide the issues.

I hope one outcome of the circus is that the public, and its leaders, take steps to reform the system.
And for me, the focus really ought to be on reducing the time to get to a sensible outcome.

Coincidentally, the Immigration chaos stateside may be related to the time the system there takes to deal with claims of refugee status. Its not uncommon for such cases to take 5 years or more to get to a hearing on the merits (a court hearing where both sides present their case). Some of Trump's cases have been on the go for 4 years, and with no conclusion imminent !

 The catch is that the public, and its leaders, will have to make some really difficult choices - that strive to find the right balance between the interests of the various litigants, and also the public.
Insisting that cases move more quickly invariably leads to cries of unfairness from one or more of the parties/litigants, or the Courts.

The balance point has to change. We need less perfect, and more now.

Happily there was just a news report that a US Federal Appeals Court tightened up good on a Trump appeal - dealing with question: Is Trump immune from prosecution by reason of holding the office of President?  They kept appeal opportunity open - but gave T just 7 days to get reply from US Supreme Court to take up case, elsewise it would move forward. Very clever. Very helpful. Maybe a sign of things to come.