The Law is an ASS

Thank you Marjorie Cohn, for this excellent contribution to the discussion. You are absolutely correct in your very critical final sentence \"Accountability is critical to ensuring that our leaders never again torture and abuse people.\" 
It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that the law, both national US law and international law. be effective in bringing these people to account with the FULL FORCE of the law and it\'s established precedents of Neuremberg. The credibility of the US is already in tatters and there is a massive, global wellspring of anti-Americanism ready to erupt into virulent hatred. This may be irredeemable, especially when US presidents seem to indicate they are unaware that there is a problem. 
But far more significant than US credibility is the credibility of the very concept of law itself. I myself have heard lawyers scoff at the lay person\'s illusion that the law is about \"justice\" (although, I have to admit, this was in Queensland, Australia\'s \"Deep North\"). But the general world public, to now, has a belief that the law, though an ass, is a worthwhile institution. That belief has never before stood at risk of such spectacular exposure as a foolish notion.

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