Trump getting off and Biden being pardoned are unequal justice under law

President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members. The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. | AP

If anyone still thinks there is “Equal justice under law,” as the goal emblazoned above the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court proclaims, developments in the ongoing trials of Donald Trump and the recent pardon of Hunter by Joe Biden should disabuse you of that promise.

Especially when you contrast how Trump “got away with it” to what happens to civil and criminal defendants who are poor, people of color, struggling paycheck to paycheck or a combination of all three: Fines, penalties, more fines, and being hauled off to jail because of inability to pay—which only makes payment even more unlikely.

Now that’s a crime.

There’s now a second instance of unequal justice to ponder: Democratic President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, for conviction on federal tax evasion and lying to officials about owning a handgun.

It’s not so much the issue of Biden pardoning his wayward–by his own admission–son, as it is a contrast between the favored treatment of Hunter Biden and the refusal to consider pardoning other “criminals” now jailed for similar offenses. They’re poor, people of color, or both.

But most importantly, they lack friends and relatives in high places who can bypass the intricate maze of the federal pardons system. Another instance of unequal justice.

But back to Trump, for a contrast:

The outcomes and pending outcomes in his criminal cases show in stark relief there’s one law for the rich and another for the rest of us—a reality that has existed for people of color ever since the first Black people landed on our shores and Latinos were swallowed into the U.S. by our imperialist conquest of a third of Mexico.

To review: Trump, a serial misogynist, congenital liar and inciter of rebellion, invasion and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol four years ago, is going to get away with it. He’ll escape trial and conviction because a Justice Department position, compounded by July’s Supreme Court six-justice majority ruling gives past, present and future presidents complete immunity from criminal prosecution.

Trump appointed three of the six, and other GOP presidents appointed the rest.

Trump’s also going to escape free from penalty for taking highly classified documents—including a Pentagon plan to make war on Iran—from the White House and storing them in boxes or scattering them on the floor at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He shared secrets with an Australian magnate, who blabbed when he returned home. The same DOJ memo and the High Court ruling cover that case, too.

That ruling also means sentencing in a fourth case is indefinitely postponed. A fifth, in Atlanta’s court, for trying to steal the election in Georgia, is in peril, thanks to Trump-engineered delays.

There are several reasons for this gentle treatment of Trump, which is in line with how courts treat the corporate class, whether for criminal offenses—killing coal miners by not following safety rules—or civil ones, such as bribes to foreign magnates and conspiracy to commit electoral fraud.

Trump could not have achieved all this without money to hire high-powered lawyers.

The rest of us can’t afford such talent, or afford to switch lawyers, as Trump often did, if they told him facts he didn’t like. The poor and people of color must often turn to overworked, overwhelmed pro bono public aid attorneys—or cheap private lawyers who advise clients to plead guilty now and hope for leniency later.

Rigged in two ways

Besides, the system itself is rigged, two ways. Courts let lawyers delay and delay and delay trials of rich defendants—but not of poor ones.

Here’s what happens too often to ordinary defendants i.e. the rest of us, according to an ACLU analysis published two years ago, and even truer today, especially in red states:

“Picture this: On your way home from work after a long week, you’re pulled over and issued a ticket for rolling through a stop sign. The fine is $75. But once mandatory fees are tacked on, the ticket’s total cost is over $300.

“What would happen if you couldn’t afford to pay this cost immediately? In most places in the U.S., your government would tack on additional fees and interest charges, suspend your driver’s license, or even issue a bench warrant—meaning police could arrest and jail you.

“This is just one of the ways fees in the justice system trap far too many people in a vicious cycle of punishment and debt. Hard-working people…are forced to make unimaginable choices: Do I forgo basic necessities like food, medicine, and housing for my family? Or do I pay all these fees in order to avoid arrest and jail?” The emphasis is theirs.

Ordinary defendants don’t get the benefit of trial delays, as Trump did or pardons like Hunter got. Ordinary defendants don’t get a chance to present their sides of the story, or negotiate down the fines and penalties.

Trials of you and me often yield to plea bargains and jail terms. When there is a full-scale trial, with a jury, and a conviction, sentencing follows fast and the miscreant is marched off to jail.

For the rich, even when there is a sentence and a fine, punishment gets cut down for the rich, but not for the rest of us. Reread that ACLU analysis.

Then remember that in another Trump trial, a New York state court found Trump and his company defrauded the state of millions of dollars in taxes. State Attorney General Letitia James sought fines totaling more than half a billion dollars. The final fine was a third of that.

And it’s not just Trump, or the Bidens who benefit.

Recall that when coal mine owner Don Blankenship’s mine exploded in West Virginia, killing 29 coal miners—workers—because Blankenship wouldn’t take basic safety precautions, he spent a year in jail. For violating Mine Safety and Health Administration rules. MSHA couldn’t get him for murder.

Institute real fines for big lawbreakers

And go through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s files. See the fines OSHA inspectors propose for hazards on the job. They’re not enough to deter corporate malefactors from repeating their crimes. Even so, the companies appeal and appeal and appeal, and the fines get reduced until they’re not even a slap on the wrist…maybe a finger tap, no more.

What can we do about this? The answer, at least about Trump, is not much. But for the others, there are possible remedies.

Here’s one: There’s a proposal floating around to amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that, for purposes of political campaigns and their financing, corporations are not “people” and thus not covered by the Constitution’s First Amendment and its freedom of speech.

That doesn’t go far enough.

We would rewrite that proposed amendment to say “For the purposes of the U.S. Constitution and all state, local and federal statutes, corporations are not people.” Stop. Period. The corporate class’s artificial constructs, the companies, should have no rights at all. 

Since constitutional amendments take a long time, if they’re passed, there are interim steps:

If corporations and corporate executives are allowed continued existence—a dubious proposition at best, given their track record—reverse the presumption of innocence.

And when they’re guilty, treat them the way we treat the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system: High fines, compounded fines, no bond, no bail and haul them off to jail.

For corporations, confiscate their ill-gotten gains. They put profits over people. We should punish them by repealing their profits.

And since the Trump trials show again that “justice delayed is justice denied,” eliminate the delays. Outlaw repeated appeals, extensions, more appeals and more extensions. One appeal, one extension per case—criminal or civil—for each side at each court level. With a time limit.

These ideas aren’t perfect or comprehensive, but they can bring us closer to “Equal justice under law.”

In short, make the actions of the rich, the corporate class and corporations they form real crimes, make it tough for individual malefactors to escape conviction, and then imprison them.

The above article represents the opinion of the author.

We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!

---

CONTRIBUTOR

Mark Gruenberg

Award-winning journalist Mark Gruenberg is head of the Washington, D.C., bureau of People's World. He is also the editor of the union news service Press Associates Inc. (PAI). Known for his reporting skills, sharp wit, and voluminous knowledge of history, Mark is a compassionate interviewer but tough when going after big corporations and their billionaire owners.