An unequal system of justice - one for Trump and one for everyone else

Thanks to a politically biased Supreme Court, Trump has also been given immunity for acts committed as president within their core constitutional purview. Therefore, the Justice Department has thrown out strong cases regarding Trump’s alleged subversion of the 2020 election and removal of classified documents.

Further, Trump lost the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. But, at his sentencing, he didn’t receive any real penalty due to his election. Trump is on the hook for $355 million from a New York fraud case and another $88 million from the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault and defamation cases. Will Trump ever pay? I doubt it.

Then we have the election interference charges in the Atlanta case. Plenty of blame to go around on that one.

Let’s examine why Trump and 18 others (including Rudy Giuliani , Mark Meadows, and other GOP bigwigs) were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury. Trump never conceded that he lost the 2020 presidential election and set out to overturn it.

Trump made a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in January 2021. This was just one of many national calls made by Trump and his allies pursuant to overturning a free and fair election.

Trump asked him to “find 11,780 votes.” Although Trump implied (falsely) that Raffensperger was committing a crime by not finding these votes, Raffensperger refused to conjure up these nonexistent voters. If he had done so, Trump would have won Georgia’s electoral votes.

Based on his actions, Trump was eventually impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. But GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell would not support the Senate removing him.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation into the situation, including election interference. However, Willis took her sweet time with the case, unconscionably dragging it out. Racketeering indictments were finally handed down in August 2023, more than two and a half years after the event.

Along the way, Willis made a ridiculously amateurish mistake. She appointed Nathan Wade, with whom she’d had a romantic relationship, as lead special prosecutor in the case. He later resigned under pressure. She was disqualified from the case by the Georgia Appeals court, 2-1. Further, the GOP-controlled Georgia Senate appointed a “special committee” to review Willis’ investigation into Trump’s preelection questionable activity.

I’m not an attorney, but there doesn’t appear to be anything illegal in Willis’ actions. She was simply foolish; there was no legal basis cited for her removal other than to “restore public confidence in the integrity of the proceedings” (i.e., due to the appearance of impropriety).

Whether Willis is guilty of misconduct is simply a distraction. But her removal is being successfully used by MAGA to ensure that Trump once again gets away scot-free. In theory, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council should assign another attorney to continue the proceedings. But, due to politics and the fact that Georgia District Attorney Chris Carr will be running for governor in the next election, the reality is that the Georgia case will be dropped. Unless the very conservative Georgia Supreme Court overturns the findings of the Court of Appeals , which is unlikely.

Meanwhile, thanks to Trump, MAGA convicts (some very violent) go free after attacking the very foundations of our democracy. Coupled with the outrageous Supreme Court decision giving Donald Trump immunity for his numerous alleged crimes, the U.S. justice system is falling apart before our very eyes. And with the rampant politicization of the Justice Department and FBI under Trump, the situation will get much worse over the next four years.

Credit: Courtesy Photo

Credit: Courtesy Photo

Jack Bernard, a retired business executive and former chair of the Jasper County Commission and Republican Party, was the first director of health planning for Georgia.