Trump, Smollett, and the Decay of American Justice

I always thought I had a good grasp on the idea of justice. I knew for instance that it had different meanings from legal, moral, and social perspectives. I knew there were philosophies of justice (distributive, procedural, etc.) which combined with those perspectives to create a framework of norms and laws that guided all Americans towards better behavior. Regardless of how many of us broke those laws, acted immorally, or even sought to harm the fabric of our society, I believed that framework of justice represented an ideal that most Americans shared. And regardless of the number of injustices in our society that hindered or even threatened that ideal, I saw our shared understanding represented by the Constitution and Bill of Rights as the compass that kept the country moving in the right direction.

But after the preliminary findings of the Mueller Report and the dropping of all charges against Jussie Smollett I’m not sure what justice in America is anymore. Within the span of three days what I thought were widely shared fundamental understandings of right and wrong failed to materialize. The preliminary conclusions of the Mueller Report and Smollett case were not a miscarriage of the justice system resulting from manipulation, corruption, or incompetence. They were not like the O.J. Simpson or Rodney King trials when large majorities of Americans refused…