In the end the truth will come out.

The American justice system moves slowly. Have you noticed?

I guess I was not aware just how slowly the judges in court move because thankfully I have never been involved in a court case. I have never been sued, or indicted, and I have never even been called to be a witness in a case.

On television shows the episodes have trials that end within an hour.

I understand that the real justice system works by the rule of law, and uses previous cases as standards. I understand about the amount of time lawyers need to prepare for a case, and the time to enter ‘discovery’, and then it takes time to get jury members, all before the actual case gets going, and then that can be long. Oh, and then if a person is found guilty he or she has the right to appeal and hope for a different outcome with a new trial.

The process can take months, often years.

Lately I have watched some of the real cases that have been televised. I find them fascinating. I learn how the justice system works from watching them. And then during court breaks the commentators explain what is happening for the layperson like me.

First I watched the Murdoch trial because it happened not too far from where I live, and it was a look at small town’s southern ways, and enormous abuse of power, and of course murder.

I watched the House of Representatives Committee on the Insurrection on January 6th, and although it was not a trial with a judge, it worked through all the facts in much the same way. Many on the panel were lawyers before getting into politics. Their preparation and the decision from their findings at the end was presented to a federal attorney to continue it on. It is now the “Smith case” we are waiting on in Washington, DC.

A couple of years back I watched the televised court case against the father & son, and their neighbor, also not too far from me, who murdered Mr. Arbery, the young black man who was jogging down their street.

Now, we have seen all the indictments about Trump’s many wrong doings. (I know, he is innocent until proven guilty.) Actually, he was found guilty of sexual abuse already. Lest we forget – he has to pay millions. And, he was found guilty in the New York case about the Trump organization’s false financial statements to banks and insurance companies. He has to pay more millions for it. He and his children have other stipulations and limitations for doing business in New York.

The other cases, the ones in DC and in Georgia, may not go to court before the November election. So, there is a pretty good chance that a man who has already been found guilty of crimes, and is awaiting other trials, will be on the ballot for president of the United States. I find this incredibly bold on his part – but he is the ultimate of narcissistic self love. Right? But I also find it so very puzzling that so many American citizens don’t seem to care about his crimes, and his upcoming cases.

I really wish the cases against Trump would be put before other pending cases, and that the trials would happen before November. It makes common sense to me – which is something we seem to be lacking these days. I also wish that Trump and his lawyers would not be able to continue to stall, and slow down the process. They have made it known that it is their intent: delay, delay, delay. Trump lawyers are using every legal angle possible to slow down the justice system.

Civics lesson: The foundation and the workings of a good democracy is based on the three separate and equal parts of our government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches. Each are supposed to work independently, and should not become more powerful than the other two. It is a balancing act all the time. Lately it seems to some that even the highest court, the US Supreme Court, has not stayed away from politics (executive and legislative.) The judges lean left or right. They have made decisions that have stirred up people, and that seem to favor one side or the other. But justice is supposed to be blind to all that.

The newest Supreme Court judges openly lied to the legislative branch when they were questioned about their fundamental beliefs and how the rule of law takes precedent. Both stated they supported Roe vs. Wade and that it was the law of the land, but then once voted on and appointed to the highest court they reversed themselves and created a path for states to make their own abortion law decisions. It has caused the situation we are in now where women have to flee certain states to get health care, and to make their own choices about childbirth.

The overlapping of the justice system with today’s politics is very disheartening. And, the future, if Trump were to get elected (heaven help us all) would unbalance the branches even more. He has stated that as president he would create immunity for himself, and free convicted Jan. 6th Insurrectionists. He wants to be above the law. As a full blown narcissist he truly believes he should be. He want to drag out his own court cases to make himself judge and jury… and then deny any wrongdoing.

I titled this post “in the end the truth will come out” because I really do believe it. But ‘the end’ may take a long time in coming! A long, long time! A common phrase is that history will show the truth, and that looking back is clearer than while in the midst of it all. And, yes, that is true. Hindsight is 20/20. Right? And, in the end justice will prevail. But can we wait? Can a slow judicial system save us? I worry it won’t. For a healthy democracy it must prevail. Without a fair and unbiased court system we will have anarchy, and the Justice branch, the one that is usually considered ‘the heavy hand of the law,’ will become the Executive branch – and that will not be good. Trump wants it that way.