Our Threatened Freedom

Is Our Judicial System Collapsing

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Political Studies

Lesson: 62-169

Genre: Conversation

Track: 062

Dictation Name: Vol. E - Part 10 - Is Our Judicial System Collapsing

Location/Venue: Unknown

Year: 1980’s – 1990’s

[Dr. Rushdoony] Is our judicial system collapsing? This is R.J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom.

An increasingly common problem today is the decay and delay in our judicial system. In many cases where a criminal is caught in the act, a dismissal results, after many delays and postponements of the trial. The reason is that, after a period of time, witnesses move away or die, and the charges are dismissed.

In civil suits, the matter is even worse. In some of our major cities it takes almost five years for a civil case to come to trial. The practical consequences of this are far reaching. Where money and property are tied up, how many people can afford to wait five years? One retired judge in Los Angeles has said recently that the cost of civil suits is so great that it does not pay to sue unless more than 20,000 dollars is at stake. This means that for most of us, the courts offer no hope in civil cases. In criminal cases, the fact is that a crime committed against us or our property will cost us far more than it will the offender.

Very plainly our legal system is failing to fulfill its purpose. Instead of providing us with courts of justice, it is providing us with roadblocks to justice.

One criminal lawyer, in answer to complaints about continual postponements and delaying tactics said, quote, “If all we wanted from the system was instant justice, we could all look to {?} or {?}.” Unquote. Are these the alternatives, the tyranny of arbitrary courts on the one hand, and the tyranny of courts which never function on the other? Is there is not an alternative of justice fairly and quickly administered?

One of our problems in the courts is the courts themselves have created so many roadblocks and technical exceptions to judicial process, that the passage of justice has become an unduly slow and constipated process. In some instances, as much time is spent now in selecting a jury as was once spent on an entire case. A {?} court’s reversed decisions on trifling details and retrials become necessary. The arbitrary reversals by the U.S. Supreme Court result in paralysis in the lower courts, as judges lean backwards to avoid endangering a case by giving the Supreme Court any ground to overrule them.

The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees to the accused in all criminal prosecutions, quote, “The right to a speedy and public trial.” Unquote. Today many of the accused do not want a speedy trial, they gain more by many and long delays.

What we need is some kind of guarantee to victims and to the public of a speedy trial of all those that accused of some kind of crime. A guarantee should work both ways, or else the innocent and freedom itself will be penalized.

This has been R.J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom.