In my book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions (2000), I discussed the weaponization of law in order to easier convict criminals. Once this process begins, it expands. In the 21st century we have witnessed a remarkable expansion in the weaponization of law. For example, the use of weaponized law against Trump rally attendees and against President Trump himself. The weaponization of law has brought no protests from law faculties, bar associations, Congress, media, or federal judges.
Consequently, we have become a society in which the function of law is to get someone or to achieve an agenda that cannot be achieved legislatively. The person doesn’t have to be guilty of a crime. Merely being demonized or disapproved of suffices. Law now serves not justice but political and ideological emotions and the agendas of the powerful.
That the entire legal profession and all of its institutions have stood aside for this transformation of law indicates that freedom is no longer a value. Consequently, Constitutional protections are less and less enforced. White Americans have suffered discrimination in university admissions, hiring, and promotion for more than a half century. Government and its agencies have used print, TV, and social media to censor and control explanations. Spying on citizens without court approved warrants is widespread. The US has declared its law to be enforceable worldwide, even applicable to foreign national journalists such as Julian Assange, and to the President of Russia.
Any reader of alternative news can make a long list of arbitrary unaccountable power being used to negate legal and Constitutional protections. Republican President George W. Bush declared he could hold American citizens in prison indefinitely in defiance of habeas corpus. Democrat President Obama declared that he could execute American citizens on suspicion alone without due process of law. Neither were held accountable for these crimes and violations of oath of office. Getting presumed “terrorists” was considered more important than the US Constitution.
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