People v. State

That is, of course, an apology in this sense, not this sense.

Recently I removed from public visibility one of my earliest posts on this blog. The post was highly critical of a particular government employee I’d clashed with, for his role in a miscarriage of justice. Although I didn’t name him in the post, whom I was referring to was clear to some members of a community (unrelated to the legal profession) whose fellowship and opinions I value and respect. Although I was not pressured or even asked to remove the post, and although the post faithfully represented my honest feelings then and now, I decided after reflecting with members of that valued community to remove the post, because good reasons for removing it outweighed any good reasons for keeping it public. The legitimate interests and concerns of the community were directly implicated by the post. Professional considerations played no part in that decision.

Although the readership of this blog is sparse, I occasionally wonder what impression it might make, should they stumble across it, on judges before whom I appear, prosecutors in cases I defend, or the cop who has been a friend since childhood. (I merely “wonder” rather than “worry,” because I take seriously the duty we all have to speak the truth as we see it.)

When I was in the military, we were taught to “respect the uniform, if not the man.” I now think that this injunction is directly opposite the truth. We should respect the man, according to the worthiness of his judgment, if not the uniform/office he wears and the authority it purports to bestow.

In an earlier post I explained where I got the name for this blog. An analogy that further explains the meaning I ascribe to the name is to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Significantly, the organization is not named Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. The State is something some people do and think, just as some people drink and drive. The State is not People, although it has no existence apart from the actual living people who “make it up.” If the State is Our Enemy, that doesn’t mean that the people who “make up” the State are themselves the Enemy, although “just following orders” does not excuse their personal moral responsibility for anything they do that is contrary to natural justice.

Comparing the State to drunk driving is apt. George Washington put it this way: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force.”

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