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The Law Will Not Save Us
The impeachment proceedings provide an excellent opportunity to remind people of something they ought to know, but perhaps have forgotten: The rule of law exists in this country to conceal politics. Perhaps that is not its only purpose, but it is certainly the most important. Those who want to change the status quo do well to remember that the law will not save us if the politics are against us. This is not hyperbole, nor is it necessarily a bad thing, but it does require some explanation, and the best way to explain is to offer a few illustrations.
This form of legal religiosity finds its purest expression in the claim that a particular legal argument meets with the approval of the Founders (hallowed be their name). When someone really wants to signal that their view of the law is superior to all others, the trump card (dare we say) is to claim the approval of the Founders. Why else would we capitalize the word? The next time you hear someone say, “The Founders believed …” substitute, “Listen unto me for I have reviewed the entrails and have divined the mind of the Founders.” We worship their words and battle over their meaning. Even if they did not speak to our precise situation, we find it necessary to prove that, had the Founders faced a quintessentially 21st-century question, like whether the police can search your cellphone without a warrant, they would’ve agreed with us.
Some may be shocked at what I have written. They still worship the law, and believe there is a there there. I have given up on that fantasy. Yet that does not mean all is lost. It simply means that the President and I agree, if only in one respect: All that matters is what happens at the ballot box. The law will not save this country.
This form of legal religiosity finds its purest expression in the claim that a particular legal argument meets with the approval of the Founders (hallowed be their name). When someone really wants to signal that their view of the law is superior to all others, the trump card (dare we say) is to claim the approval of the Founders. Why else would we capitalize the word? The next time you hear someone say, “The Founders believed …” substitute, “Listen unto me for I have reviewed the entrails and have divined the mind of the Founders.” We worship their words and battle over their meaning. Even if they did not speak to our precise situation, we find it necessary to prove that, had the Founders faced a quintessentially 21st-century question, like whether the police can search your cellphone without a warrant, they would’ve agreed with us.
Some may be shocked at what I have written. They still worship the law, and believe there is a there there. I have given up on that fantasy. Yet that does not mean all is lost. It simply means that the President and I agree, if only in one respect: All that matters is what happens at the ballot box. The law will not save this country.
