Justice is blind. Or it used to be. One of the bedrocks of a civil society is that the laws apply to everyone, and apply to everyone as equally as possible. The alternative is a landscape of lawfare, where whatever group is in power uses the laws to punish opponents and reward their allies.
And -- especially in the last few years -- America has openly descended into the swamp of lawfare.
The Left will try to spin it as 'criminal justice reform' or some other Orwellian title. But a dumpster full of hot garbage still smells like hot garbage, even if you start calling it a rose.
To do a deep dive into the myriad examples of lawfare would take up hours of research and miles of column inches. So rather than speak in broad terms, I'll take a look at one particular case, the latest example of how the Left has taken 'rules for thee, but not for me' to heart.
He Stormed a Campus Building at Columbia. He Also Has an Active New York Law License, and He's Poised To Keep It.https://t.co/7Ep6I4MUXf
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 16, 2024
'He' is James 'Cody' Carlson, a wealthy Left-wing activist who partook in the Columbia University campus unrest this past spring. The unrest was sparked by support for Hamas and rooted in gross antisemitism (as we saw at UCLA, which recently got smacked down in court over the issue).
Carlson was arrested back in April for misdemeanor arson. Ten days later, he was arrested for felony burglary. Like many of the Columbia rioters, Carlson also saw his charges reduced (many had theirs outright dropped).
Carlson is also a licensed New York attorney.
Under New York law, a felony conviction is grounds for automatic disbarment. Not so with a misdemeanor.
It's incredible how, depending on your politics, you're able to get away with crimes that would put others in prison or see their professional careers left in shambles.
I don't need to remind you how January 6 defendants have been unjustly railroaded by the so-called 'justice system.' Back in March, I reported how an appeals court judge said courts -- under the urging of the DOJ -- issued 'improper' sentences to more than 100 January 6 defendants.
We all see it.
Carlson isn't the first lawyer to get in trouble for criminal activity. Two other New York lawyers -- Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman -- were arrested and convicted of setting a cop car on fire during the BLM/George Floyd riots of 2020. Mattis and Rahman were both sentenced to prison. Mattis got 12 months and a day; Rahman got 15 months. Both lost their law licenses. Mattis also faced losing his foster children.
Make no mistake -- Mattis and Rahman deserved every bit of punishment they received. Including the loss of their law licenses. Too few people were arrested and punished in conjunction with the 'mostly peaceful' protests that burned cities across America.
But why does Carlson get to walk away scot-free? Not only is he not facing deserved felony charges, he may not even face a disciplinary hearing for his actions (such a hearing is not automatically triggered by a misdemeanor conviction). He gets to keep his law license. Mattis and Rahman did not.
The answer has to be that -- in four short years -- the so-called 'justice' system has decided hating on Jews and crimes committed borne of that hatred are somehow acceptable. The Left's present-day political agenda requires more of what we saw at Columbia in the spring, so guys like Carlson (and hundreds of others) get to skate.
That which is rewarded gets repeated, after all.
