In reading the various Republican statements (see here and here) alleging that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is engaging in an outlandish abuse of power in regard to his decision to indict House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a thought occurred to me.
For the past several years, the Justice Department under the Bush Administration has engaged in numerous and similar abuses of power. As a result, where is the Republican outrage over the sad cases of Daniel Bayly, William Fuhs, Arthur Andersen and Jamie Olis, to name just a few?
As I have noted many times, Sir Thomas More explains in the following passage from A Man for All Seasons why it is important to uphold the rule of law to constrain the abuse of overwhelming state power, even where doing so means that the Devil himself cannot be prosecuted unless he actually commits a crime:
“And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it, Roper! — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?”
“Yes, I’d give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”
The Bush Administration, Mr. DeLay and many of the Republicans who are criticizing Mr. Earle failed to uphold the rule of law in preventing prosecutions of business executives whose only “crime” was to be involved in arguably questionable business transactions that, at most, should have been the subject of civil litigation. Thus, the Republicans’ irresponsible sacrifice of these executives’ careers to the mantle of fickle public opinion has now contributed to the current environment where their own attempts to take advantage of loopholes in campaign finance laws is being criminalized.
Although abuse of state power against controversial politicians should not be condoned any more than abuse of state power against unpopular business executives, the Republicans’ criticism of the DeLay prosecution rings hollow. They should have listened to Sir Thomas.
