Justice

The Seminal » Does Wolf Blitzer Think It’s Time To Call Out the Lynch Mob?

What happened at Fort Hood was terrifying, it was horrible, it is dislocating, and it is beyond disturbing. But it is not grounds for setting aside the Constitution. Unless everyone has constitutional rights, none of us is guaranteed that our own rights will be protected. When we say that Nazis have a right to free speech, that suspected terrorists have a right to be free from torture, that accused murderers have a right to a fair trial, it doesn’t mean we are endorsing Nazis, terrorists, or murderers (or murderers who are also terrorists). It means that we recognize what the Constitution requires–as it says on the Supreme Court building, "equal justice under law."

Having a Constitution isn’t easy, but it’s something many of us think is worth the effort. As Congress said in 1963 "No persons should be more entitled to protection of their constitutional rights then the servicemen engaged in protecting the sovereignty of the United States." It’s easy to repeat those words when we’re thinking of brave, wrongly accused soldiers caught up in a Kafkaesque misunderstanding. The test of whether the Constitution means what it says is whether we can apply the principle of equal justice to those who appear repellent. I’m glad to answer "yes"–the Constitution must apply to everyone, without exception. That’s the only way we can be sure that we, ourselves, will be protected.

A speedy trial followed by an execution. That is precisely what too many people seem to want here.