New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was one of the speakers at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday evening. The former United State Attorney for New Jersey told delegates that he was presenting the facts of a case and invited them to render a verdict. A mock trial, if you will. In doing so, he made a mockery of his profession, his office and the legal principles that shaped the creation of our country.
Before you jump on the comment button, know that our issue with the governor’s speech has nothing to do with any of the candidates who have been, or will continue to be, in the 2016 presidential race. MyVeronaNJ.com believes that it is the right of every citizen to independently vote their views and their conscience. (We have, however, voiced our dismay at how few Verona citizens avail themselves of their right to vote, whether in a school board election, Town Council election or a county, state or federal race.)
The problem, Tuesday night, was the governor’s complete and utter disregard for the rule of law.
Lawyers use mock trials to help them prepare for major court cases. Mock trials are used in schools as teaching tools to help students understand the law and our legal system. We’ve enjoyed the proceedings of the Mock Trial Club at Verona High School many times over the years. But even high school students in a district that you have woefully underfunded since taking office know better than to do what you did in Cleveland, Gov. Christie.
The Quicken Loans Arena is not a courtroom, Gov. Christie. Your audience at the Republican National Convention was not a sworn jury. No one asked delegates questions about their backgrounds or biases that might have prevented them from being a reasonable judge of your “case”. There was no attorney for the plaintiff to rebut your assertions or to offer exculpatory evidence. There was no presiding judge to rule on objections or to instruct the audience that they could not simply shout out their opinion.
America’s founders set us up to be governed by laws, and not the whims of a hereditary monarch. In the 21st century, the rule of law protects citizens from arbitrary decisions of government officials. No one agrees with every law but we used to understand that we needed to accept them, and the institutions and elected officials that shape them, to advance democracy.
“Why has government been instituted at all?” Alexander Hamilton asked in The Federalist Papers No. 15. “Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.”
In staging his little mock trial on Tuesday night, Mr. Christie, who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when he became governor, said to hell with all that. He wants us to believe that, whatever the evidence, whatever the decisions previously rendered, whatever the laws, if we want someone to be guilty, then they are. He wants us to believe that we can disregard the rule of law and let our hatred rule instead.
But haven’t we seen enough recently of what hatred does in the U.S., Mr. Christie? Haven’t we seen enough of the evil that vigilantes do in the world? We won’t dignify their actions by calling them “vigilante justice”, because what they do has absolutely nothing to do with a democracy. And neither did your mock trial.
Shame on you.
You go Virginia. He would say that it was a mock mock trial, not a serious one with the requisite format. But the vitriol espoused toward the other presidential candidate only amplifies the fact that Christie, along with the majority of speakers at the RNC, have nothing substantive to support Trump as a president so they need to go after Clinton divisively.
I couldn’t agree more. It was a shameful exercise from a man who knows no shame.
I emphatically disagree with your statement that, “No one agrees with every law but we used to understand that we needed to accept them, and the institutions and officials that shape them, to advance democracy.” We, the people, should “shape them”. We are a republic and if we are to be a representative republic, elected officials should follow OUR lead. As far as a “substantive” reason to support Trump, here’s one. Marsha Blackburn, the representative from Tennessee quoted Lincoln in her speech at the convention, ‘If all do not join now to save the good ship of the union this voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another.’