Recognizing victory
Justice relies on the efforts of ordinary people, filing paperwork, interviewing witnesses, guarding the safety of the courtroom, following the rules. All deserve our gratitude.
There it is. Twelve citizen jurors found the ex-president guilty on all felony counts.
This is an important marker in the struggle to maintain and enhance the rule of law, and equality before the law. There will be appeals, of course; these contests seem never to end fully, but only to morph into new venues, different contexts, deeper challenges. (Remember thinking in 2020, after the election finally ended, that we could rest? Remember believing after the violent attack on Congress in 2021 that there would be no coming back for the far right? Maybe that was just me, naive and hopeful after those sickening years.)
Lesson learned: each victory is hard-fought, none are final.
Still, each victory deserves recognition. And those we recognize must include the jurors who carried out their civic duty and who, all-too-predictably, will be targeted by the defenders of the ex-president with threats of violence. These folks knew that likelihood going in, and worked to evaluate the evidence on its merits anyway. Kudos to them.
We recognize the court workers, district attorneys’ staff and lawyers who put in the hours to prepare and document the case. The people who showed up for work knowing that they and their families might also become targets of the far-right wrath.
Justice relies on the efforts of ordinary people, filing paperwork, interviewing witnesses, guarding the safety of the courtroom, following the rules. All deserve our gratitude, and our full-throated defense should they be harassed, threatened, or worse.
And notice the pattern: when the former president and his enablers wind up in a court of law, where evidence must be shown and evaluated, and people must answer questions under oath and penalty of perjury, they almost always lose. This is why their comments in the public sphere are so desperately full of mis- and disinformation, lies and threats. They cannot do that in a courtroom, where twelve citizen jurors can see the nakedness of this particular would-be emperor.
Stay safe and well, and stay in the fight. November will be here soon enough.
