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Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: Even Witches Deserve Fairness
The incantations from the impeachment hearings can be confusing.
The moral philosophy I am about to offer comes from an American, but a person from the Mother Country, steeped in the English justice system, is probably better equipped to understand and therefore profit from the work of John Rawls. Still, I maintain that it is not complicated and any decent human being can understand how to tell what’s fair.
Because I have taught this stuff to undergraduates, I claim the privilege of giving it a try at a time when it really matters — during the Trump impeachment hearings. It matters. The survival of our imperfect democracy is at stake. It really matters. The facts about to be launched from the electronic eye cannot be allowed to founder on the shoals of mindless tribalism. It really, really matters that the result not only be just, but be understood as just.
These distinctions are breaking down, but back in the days of Merrie Olde England, the legal profession was rigidly divided into solicitors, who prepared cases, and barristers, who tried cases. The important difference between the Brits and us was that barristers did not always represent the same side. In fact, it was considered unethical for a barrister to “refuse a brief” for any but a…
