How Republicans Want Justice: For Themselves Alone

Update: Many thanks again to Batocchio for adding me to Crooks & Liars' Mike's Blog Round-Up. Please take the time to look at the other articles on this site, and please support the pro-choice groups out there as the wingnut Republicans take away women's rights, especially here in Florida as the idiot governor sneaks in around midnight to sign a restrictive anti-abortion bill without media fanfare while Ft. Lauderdale floods, the bastard...

You want to see the real weaponization of the American justice system?

It's not from state district or federal attorneys going after donald trump for illegal misdeeds he's openly committed (and in the case of the stolen classified documents, something he still brags about).

Watch as the Republican Texas governor openly - HAPPILY - plans to pardon a Far Right shooter who killed a Black Lives Matter protestor right after a jury convicted that shooter for murder (via Bill Chappell at NPR):

One day after a jury convicted U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry of murder for shooting and killing Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants Perry to receive a pardon.

Perry, 35, hasn't been sentenced yet, but the state pardons and parole board is already starting to review his case, at Abbott's request.

"I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry," Abbott said over the weekend, via Twitter...

The governor didn't go into detail about why he believes Perry should be pardoned, but he cited Perry's attorney's explanation that Perry shot Foster in self-defense.

"Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," Abbott said...

The thing is, that jury weighed the evidence presented in court, and didn't believe Perry's claims of self-defense because eyewitnesses testified that Foster wasn't threatening Perry in that moment. It didn't help Perry that he bragged before going to the rally that he "might have to kill a few people." The jury did its job, and yet Abbott declared it 'nullification'.

One of the things I've heard and read about the legal system is how sacrosanct jury decisions are (just Google "juries are the bedrock" and see the results). The appellate system is loathe to overturn jury rulings unless there's proof the jury was tampered with or didn't receive the full facts of the case, and even then it's like moving mountains for the higher courts to do so. 

The matter has barely been settled in a court of law, and already Abbott wants to overrule the whole trial. It's not the jury committing nullification (the refusal to accept the legal facts of the matter and rule in contravention to what the court instructed), it's the state governor. 

Abbott is essentially guaranteeing a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for Perry, and signaling that he will offer the same deal to any other Far Right gunman eager to disrupt any protest or rally that offends their extremism.

Abbott isn't doing this because the trial was unfair, or because Perry is suffering any form of injustice (or requires some form of mercy due to medical emergency or personal loss). Abbott is doing this for partisan reasons, for pandering to the rabid Republican voting base convinced there's a shooting war between themselves and the dreaded Other (liberals, Blacks, immigrants, women, college students, and more). Abbott is doing this to "own the libs," and to make it clear that any protest - even peaceful ones guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution - can become a shooting gallery for MAGA wingnuts.

The Far Right meme of "Librul Hunting Licenses" just got real.

Abbott is doing this because Republicans don't believe in justice for all: Republicans want a skewed legal system that protects only them and punishes everyone else.

Gods help us.