THE JUSTICE GAME

Loyalty Oaths for Some

So this week when I started back at the Jacksonville Public Defender’s Office, an HR person came by my office and handed me a “Loyalty Oath” to sign. I duly executed the form after swearing to tell the truth (cross my heart!) that I would duly defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of Florida, then said, “It’s too bad we can’t make the judges follow this, too!”

I’ve always been amazed at the mental gymnastics judges will go to to avoid following the constitution. Evidence seized as a result of an illegal search? Oh, let’s create an exception. Then another. And another. The evisceration of the Fourth Amendment. You asked for a lawyer before talking to detectives after you were detained? Well that was fine, but it was OK for them to start talking to you a few hours later after you made an innocent unrelated comment. The evisceration of the Fifth Amendment.

Justice Thomas (it’s hard for me to say those two words together) wants to do away with the right to counsel—court-appointed counsel, that is. I laugh when I think about how that would work, because without a functioning system of public defense, the entire court system—state and federal—would grind to a screeching halt. The sixth Amendment probably won’t be eviscerated because it would make the (well-paid) job of judging so much more inconvenient.

Back when Alan Dershowitz was a Harvard Law School Professor and sometime real lawyer (remember Claus von Bulow?), he penned the Ten Rules of the Justice Game. Number three: It is easier to convict guilty defendants by violating the Constitution, than by complying with it, and in some cases it is impossible to convict guilty defendants without violating the Constitution. Dershowitz’ ten rules (published in his book The Best Defense) were right on then and still hold true today. Somebody tell the judges about that loyalty oath please!