Summary
Merrick Garland’s failure to swiftly prosecute Trump for inciting the January 6th insurrection allowed Trump to run for president again in 2024.
Garland’s slow-walking of the investigation undermined the seriousness of Trump’s actions and normalized him as a Republican front-runner.
Garland’s inaction contributed to the current state of the republic, where Trump is poised to return to the White House.
Just for comparison, the Feds indicted some random person for selling pirated TV shows in 2019 and didn’t get a conviction until this month. That’s five years, and the SCOTUS wasn’t even helping him drag the case out.
Federal cases take a long time when defendants insist on going to trial and dragging things out.
Marric Garland didn’t even start the poccess until over 2.5 years after it happened.
for a better comparison, go with Jack Teixera- the Discord Leaks Guy. After they were discovered, it took all of a week to figure out his identity, arrest him, and secure further leaks.
It took over 6 months to get the documents back- when they knew exactly who had the documents. No investigation necessary. but he didn’t want to be “political.”
And by the way, those documents are literally damning evidence of violating several laws for which most Americans would be hanged.
Also, remember, they didn’t actually get them all back. Some of the worst secrets are still missing.
The idea that there can be no special cases that demand high priority, even when the case is itself about an attack on the republic, is the failure of blind institutionalism. The public also has a right to know that trials will resolve in a timely manner, especially when the trials are about attacks against the People themselves.
“Justice takes time, let Mueller/Garland/Smith work” was the mantra of failure. There was a fetishization of a higher path, where the machinations of law take as long as they need to, with no deadlines or pressing public questions, but instead of leading to a purer and incontrovertible justice, it led to no justice at all.
Garland (and Biden as the one who appointed him) have a very direct responsibility for the loss of degradation of the American republic. Even should Trump’s term just pass as a bad four years, long-term damage has been done through this failure.
This is why Trump can say the government is broken and it resonates with people. These things should not take years and years. “Right to a speedy trial” needs to be upheld.
The key word there is “right to.” If someone is willing to have a plea deal or move quickly to trial, they can. But if you want, and have the resources to pay for a lawyer, you can delay the process out for a very long time. Just because you have a right to a speedy trial doesn’t mean you have to exercise that right.