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Better late than never: the scales fall from former-Sen. Stevens's eyes

By Jack M. Balkin

I am very glad that Attorney General Holder has dropped the charges against former Senator Ted Stevens. But what most intrigues me about a story posted in today's NYTimes noting that the federal judge in the case has ordered an investigation of the DOJ attorneys for possible criminal misconduct is Stevens's own reaction:

?Until recently, my faith in the criminal justice system, particularly the judicial system, was unwavering,? he said. ?But what some members of the prosecution team did nearly destroyed my faith. Their conduct had consequences for me that they will never realize and can never be reversed.?

How could an 85-year-old man with literally decades of service in Congress, with every opportunity to be well aware of the actual operation of the American system of criminal justice, have "unwavering" faith in its operation, even at the federal level (which I assume is significantly better than many state systems)? Is he stupid, or merely a raving ideologue? Has he really been living a totally sheltered life, in which he believes that there are no innocent people on death row who were victimized by ambitious prosecutors (and, in judicial-election states, judges) who wanted to prove to the public that they were "tough on crime," that there were no differences, correlated with race and class, in the plea bargains and recommendations for sentencing (e.g., "community service") that are put forth, and the like?

Might we not expect more from civic leaders who actually pass laws regarding the operation of the criminal justice system (including, of course, regularly cutting the funds available to criminal defense attorneys--fortunately, Stevens could hire a tiger from Williams & Connolly)? (Coming up: Norm Coleman says "it never occurred to me that there could be any problems in the operation of elections in America other than failure to demand voter ID"!)

Full post as published by Balkinization on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).