The Constitution prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.” We’ve gone to citizenship proceedings of lovely people with Hispanic last names, even a little accent. But Trump has ICE picking people up in groups, or by their accents or last names. Sloppy, and deprives people of liberty, for which the Constitution requires “due process of law.”
But the Trump Admininistration blocks access to lawyers, moves “detainees” far from their homes and postpones hearings, making due process difficult to get. Is it too much work to separate the innocent from the guilty? Or did they bother to check? Obedience to law doesn’t make Mr. Tough look supreme.
There are rules of the sea. But the Administration hasn’t presented evidence that the fishing boats it’s sunk have been guilty of any crimes. It was American policy to have the Coast Guard board and inspect ships before taking any further action. But this Administration apparently doesn’t bother – sink first and cover up later. When the Administration found two survivors, that apparently didn’t look tough enough. Trump’s m.o. is to make like he’s always tougher than everyone else. We once claimed we were a law-abiding people. Not anymore.
And when we break international commitments like the rules of the sea, we convince the world that our promises are worthless.
When we stereotype people, are we scaring them away or encouraging them to take retribution at anyone who looks American? Some Americans are killers, rapists, robbers and sexual predators. Does that make us a bad race of people that justifies seizing and killing any of the rest of us?
The President has “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” But is he using that power for corrupt purposes? Trump says he’s fighting drug traffickers but just a week ago Friday he pardoned a major convicted drug kingpin – former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández who has a long list of misbehavior leading to Hernández’s 2024 conviction for drug trafficking, money laundering and arms dealing.
Trump claims to oppose child sex abuse but pardons abusers and has blocked programs to protect victims. He’s also issued pardons for murder, including pardoning a cop-killer as well as cops convicted of murder. His wave of pardons for elected officials and the wealthy raises questions of pardons for money. Trump just commuted the sentence of David Gentile. Gentile was a private equity executive starting a seven-year sentence for conviction for a “Ponzi scheme” to defraud investors of more than 1.6 billion dollars.
There has been no indication of a good reason for any of those pardons. So where are we going? Sloppy thinking? Into the valley of death? Corruption? Each path has its own dynamics into more and more killing and corruption. There has been something of a reaction to Trump’s tactics, but fear, and the drumming of Trump’s PR, may move us to deepen the misbehavior.
If the soul of America isn’t liberty, due process and adherence to a moral code in public as well as private dealing, what is it? If I were counsel during an impeachment hearing I would ask the senators what’s he doing in office?
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran. He enjoys the help of his editor, Jeanette Gottlieb
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