I love when people unfamiliar with the legal system think it works like computer code or something. It has weird particulars that it gets hung up on sometimes, but common sense is also an integral part of the process in a way that’s sometimes surprising to people who are trying to abuse it.
“No no, this is a totally different lawsuit which I suddenly realized I wanted to file against the defendant at the exact same time I dropped the other! The two have nothing to do with each other.”
“Your honor that’s clearly bullshit. Motion to dismiss.”
“Granted, clearly bullshit, you are correct. Were you looking for attorneys’ fees or damages? Or file a countersuit?”
I get as frustrated as anyone else at the often glacial pace of justice. I've been told that it's all in a good cause, that slow means careful and the best chance at just outcomes.
While I mostly believe this, my doubts stem from the fact that "justice" seems to be awfully stern and quick when the accused is poor, or a minority, and seems to only really becomes slow and careful when the rich, and especially the rich white, are accused. And the rich get to live in "house arrest" while the system cautiously, and protractedly, protects their rights. I have a difficult time reconciling that.
PS, I know you're talking about Crowder, not the public. It just got me thinking.
Yep. It’s a pretty reasonable system, with both sides doing their aggressive best to win and justice as the result, all the way up until the prosecution gets basically unlimited resources and the defendant whether guilty or innocent gets a public defender who read their case and 4 others on the bus on the way to the courthouse. At that point it becomes pretty much not reasonable any more.
"No no! I'm really broke. I owe mommy and daddy a bunch of money that didn't hit the books until the shit was hitting the fan. That company should get any money owed first."
Yeah, there’s a certain type of person that will try the world’s most obvious ruse, assuming it’s just something the court has never encountered before and they could never see through this whole mastermind ploy, or if they do, you can just yell and they’ll probably get scared and they’ll let you do it anyway. And then they seem sort of confused and hurt and offended if it doesn’t work out that way.
There are a lot of things that are fucked as pertains to the court system, especially the way it treats poor defendants and the systems of neo-segregation it routes them into when they do get in trouble, but the concept and a not insignificant amount of the application is actually pretty fuckin on point.
The actions taken by Steven Crowder appear to be those of your typical piss baby. I think we need some anti-piss baby legislation on the books to prevent such regrettable behavior in the future.
NLRB edge is great if you like to nerd out on those sort of labor policy things. It has one of the only email newsletters that I actually read every time. Matt does good work. Check out the People's Policy Project.