The daily rant since the Trump verdict regarding our “political,” “weaponized,” and corrupt criminal justice system calls vividly to mind my first law job: teaching a law class in the maximum security division of the state penitentiary. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But alas, it’s true. All my students were lifers, in for murder, rape, or robbery, and, although I was careful not to inquire, they made certain I knew that the only reason they were in prison was that their defense lawyer was incompetent and the criminal justice system was corrupt.

The former complaint was often true, and the latter complaint is sometimes true. In America today, our judicial system is structurally good and can be repaired if we pay attention and avoid another round of presidential election fraud.

Today’s daily news drumbeat disparages the criminal justice system as corrupt. Roger Kimball writes of a “crisis” in the American justice system.

Andrew McCarthy declares our justice system is a “clown show” on good days and a “political weapon” on bad days.

Elie Honig notes that Prosecutor Bragg “contorted” the law to charge Trump

Alan Dershowitz writes that Judge Merchan instructed the jury so that “The jury had no choice but to convict.”

One must take care, though, to distinguish between the system itself and the system as administered by some corrupt prosecutors and judges. That there are some corrupt prosecutors and judges does not mean that the criminal justice system itself is corrupt. That is simply not college-level thinking. Anyone who has taken elementary logic will recognize this inference as the fallacy of composition.

Every day, there are thousands of criminal cases tried across the fruited plain by honest and hardworking prosecutors, defense counsel, and judges. That some justice system people are corrupt does not render the system corrupt.

One should always be circumspect in denigrating “the system” in the presence of the more volatile among us, as they are always ready to burn down the house to roast the pig.

Though the first Trump trial is over, the proceedings are not. There will soon be an appeal. The purpose of an appeal is to correct errors the trial judge made that prejudiced the jury against the defendant. There are many such errors. It appears that an appellate court reversal is virtually certain, and a re-trial or outright dismissal is highly probable.

Should Republicans themselves undertake lawfare? Certainly, but not corruptly.

Lawfare aimed at influencing Democrats to follow the law is especially desirable. Bob Unruh writes,

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should immediately indict President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland for the ongoing crisis at the border, which in every way is a criminal human-trafficking conspiracy that they have orchestrated and sustained by flouting federal immigration law.

And while avoiding corruption in righteous lawfare, GOP officers must take care to stay in their lane. Because of the Separation of Powers Doctrine, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has no business asking the United States Supreme Court to “step in” to the Trump case.

It is also vitally important to refuse to allow the drama of Trump’s legal matters to divert attention from the numero uno danger to the Trump presidential campaign: The 3 a.m. Coup. The Democrats stole the 2020 election at 3 a.m., and there can be no doubt they will try it again in 2024.

Jim Darlington very succinctly describes the 3 a.m. coup of 2020:

In late 2020, everyone in the country knew the election had been stolen. We went to bed knowing the election was Trump’s and awoke the next day to the incomprehensible. We learned that the vote counting in the critical precincts in the battleground states had stopped, early in the morning, in perfect synch, with the Republican observers sent home. The Democrat faithful then continued the count into the dark hours, and before sunrise, Biden was given a miraculous, unprecedented, and statistically impossible surge, wherever it was needed.

The takeaway? Republicans must refuse distractions and keep their eye on the ball.

Image: United States Supreme Court (cropped), by Kjetil Ree. CC BY 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, and 1.0.