• NateNate60@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    You’re free to disagree with the way the American legal system is structured. I’m not here to argue with you, and in many ways, I actually agree with you wholeheartedly that Garland would make a terrible judge in my notion of an ideal legal system.

    The role of a judge in an inquisitorial system is to answer the questions “Did they do it? Do they deserve to be punished?”

    In the traditional English system, this is the role of the jury. The judge is just there to ensure everyone is playing by the rules of the court. And in that role, Garland is pretty suitable. And yes, a sense of fairness and impartiality is not strictly required. Just a sense of logic, which Garland definitely has. You can correctly describe that as a fault of the legal system.

    I apologise if you find this insulting.

    Think of the judge in My Cousin Vinny. Do you think that he walked into that courtroom every day thinking “these idiots definitely did it”? It’s very likely he did. But he also recognised it wasn’t his job to broadcast that to the court. He had to put on a mask of neutrality because he recognised that it is the jury’s role to determine guilt, not his. He doesn’t need to be truly impartial to the defence’s case; he just needs to make the correct evidentiary and legal rulings. Which he mostly did.

    Contrast that to the role of the prosecutor, which is what the attorney-general is. It’s the prosecutor’s job to come into court thinking “these guys are guilty” and convince the jury of the same.

    • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      That’s a lot of words I’m not gonna read— but I don’t need your permission nor your approval to disagree with you.

      And, since your patronizing tone has graduated to condescending, don’t bother replying. Nothing you have to say hold the value to me, so I’ll just downvote your comment without reading it.

      Enjoy voting for Trump.