New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Law & Order: Political intent
“Law & Order” aired for 20 seasons on NBC, telling stories of police and prosecutors enforcing the law. “LAW & ORDER!” is also a frequent phrase in Tweets by the TV-show president currently occupying the White House as a reason to re-elect him.
President Trump’s vision of law and order is using arms of the government — police, military and whatever other agency he can think of — to, at best, enforce laws, and at worst, to further political and personal objectives. It does not include enforcing Constitutional liberties against government authority.
We all have rules to follow. Criminal codes limit and prohibit conduct deemed harmful to society. Constitutional rights limit the power of the government. What we think of Constitutional rights are often the amendments to the Constitution. In its original form, the “Supreme Law of the Land” did not contain those guarantees.
The Bill of Rights originated in response to criticism, during the time between its drafting and ratification, that the Constitution was centralizing too much power into the federal government at the expense of states and individuals. Those first 10 amendments only restricted the power of the federal government when they were ratified in 1791. The Fourteenth Amendment, which imposed due process and equal protection requirements on state and local governments, incorporated many of the Bill of Rights’ protections.
Trump believes in free speech until someone says something he doesn’t like. He Tweeted that the government would “strongly regulate” or close down social media platforms because he thought that Republicans were being silenced. He suggested that the FCC suspend the broadcast licenses of NBC. He called to change libel laws to make it easier to sue news media. Protesters were dispersed by government authorities so that Trump could be photographed holding a Bible in front of a church.
Trump pays lip service to the Second Amendment, which is often cited as a check against government tyranny. He does not, however, support the rights that complement keeping and bearing arms by restricting the government’s ability to take weapons: The Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth and Fourteenth due process clauses. More than once he expressed affinity for stop and frisk policies. He even said that police should stop and frisk and take guns away. In regards to red-flag laws, he said to take guns first and worry about due process later. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf boasted about federal agents making “proactive arrests” in Portland.
Civil liberties, in Trump’s version of law and order, take a backseat to aggressive policing. In a speech to police in 2017, he said, “Please don’t be too nice” to suspects. Then there was the time he Tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
People who are accused of crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty and have several important rights, including the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. At a 2017 rally, he said, in reference to investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails, “The Mob takes the Fifth...If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” Although it
There is no law and order when the law applies to some and not all, and when it does not apply to the government.
was not an invocation of the Fifth, Trump notably declined to be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The president’s concept of due process is similarly self-serving. He Tweeted the phrase “due process” 17 times since taking office — seemingly all in the context about how he was not receiving due process in Congressional investigations. Just days ago he called for his Attorney General to indict his election opponent, Joe Biden.
The concept of equal justice is implicit in the Fifth Amendment and explicitly stated in the Fourteenth. In 1891, the Supreme Court noted in the case Caldwell v. Texas, that “due process is so secured by laws operating on all alike, and not subjecting the individual to the arbitrary exercise of the powers of government, unrestrained by the established principles of private right and distributive justice.” “Equal Justice Under Law” is inscribed above the entrance to the Court.
Constitutional rights belong to us all. When the application of law becomes arbitrary, freedom does as well. There is no law and order when the law applies to some and not all, and when it does not apply to the government. That is the difference between a free republic — a country governed by the people — and one governed by a king. It is also the difference between a president who stands for the Constitution and one who just says he does on TV and Twitter.