Do You Believe Justice Can Triumph?
A Saturday Prompt
First, it was Attorney General Pam Bondi, now it’s acting AG Todd Blanche, serving—not we the people, but—Donald J. Trump. That lack of judicial independence has included an appalling parade of injustices, including prosecuting a growing list of Trump critics, ignoring due process to accelerate deportations, refusing to bring charges against a lawless ICE operation even when its agents commit murder and refusing to follow the law to fully release the Epstein files. This Department of Injustice has become a tool of abuse, cover-up and retribution in service to one man’s whims and disorders.
But yesterday was a notable day as three federal judges made rulings that pushed back against the regime’s efforts to enable Trump’s corruption and criminality. We have good reason to mark May 29 in our calendars as a sign that—while not definitive of just outcomes—the wheels of justice are still turning.
Let’s briefly consider these three rulings:
In a strong symbolic act, Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He also blocked the plan to close the center for two years. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” the judge wrote.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia stopped—at least temporarily—the DOJ from launching or operating Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund, the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund intended to reward convicted criminals and others who pursued actions to overturn the 2020 election results. The judge’s order bars Trump’s regime from transferring money to the fund, as well as considering any claims or disbursing any monies.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami reopened Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, stating that she wants to investigate “grievous allegations” that Trump’s quick push to resolve the suit by launching a fund was “premised on deception.” Judge Williams’ ruling to revive the case followed a filing by a bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges who said Trump’s “settlement” agreement raised doubts about his “candor toward the court and manipulation of the judicial system.” The judge’s order also asserts that she is “empowered to investigate serious misconduct,” demanding Trump’s lawyers to inform her by June 12 as to whether the suit should be revived because “the court was the victim of a fraud” and whether the resulting agreement was an effort by Trump and the DOJ “to avoid judicial scrutiny.”
Trump’s angry response to the order to remove his name from the Kennedy Center ludicrously summarizes his overall mentality. “There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Oh, the gaslighting by a man who’s convinced that he is the nation’s greatest victim—that it is he who has been treated “so unfairly,” not he and his operatives who are treating so many others and the judicial system itself so egregiously.
Of course, yesterday’s rulings are not the end of this saga of American justice. There will be appeals aplenty. The DOJ’s unsurprising response, for example, to Judge Brinkema’s stoppage of the criminals’ slush fund: “We will not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare.”
But taken together, the actions by these three federal judges does give reason for optimism—that Trump and his regime cannot simply run roughshod over our judicial system and ignore the rule of law in the rush to appease a despot’s bottomless appetite. And maybe, just maybe, the wheels of justice will keep turning?
So what do you think? Do you believe that justice can triumph? Or has the scale of destruction and weaponization of the Justice Department to serve Trump’s hunger for retribution and unfettered corruption broken your belief? If the latter, is there an event or ruling that can change your thinking, up to and including impeachment and conviction of Donald J. Trump?
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for the America, America community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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Seriously, Steven, the answer to your question is… I have to believe that Justice can triumph. It’s the only wormhole that we have now. It is the place we can all gather to actively pool our collective grief and rage into some kind of transformative experience. For now, I will cast aside my cynicism and doubt in favor of a childlike faith in Justice. We cannot allow it to be disfigured by this regime. Let’s pray for its restoration as an ideal and do the ongoing work its implementation requires. “Justice, Justice, you shall pursue.”
I think that justice can triumph, but once we are through the crisis of the next two years we will need to make changes even more sweeping than anyone's currently talking about.