needs to be fixed

Reader comment on: Conrad Black Wins!

Submitted by Eric Caulfield (Canada), Jul 1, 2010 16:22

Seems to me the Black case shows the system is broken....not working. It's hard to believe that after a 100 years only now does the highest court say that everyone has the right to appeal his or her conviction at any level...to the highest level. However, what that decision doesn't say is that only the rich will be able to afford it and then only a 1% chance of being heard. This is the crux of the broken system. Only the rich can afford to go on and even then the "they and them" can stop them by simply refusing to hear the appeal. That's a broken system! Further... the constitution gives every person the right to bear arms. Said another way...the right to own a gun yet for 26 years Chicago has had a by law forbidding hand guns in its city limits. The supreme court reconfirmed this right to own a gun as part of the constitution just a few days ago. How many people paid fines or went to jail for possession of a gun within city limits because they couldn't afford to appeal all the way to the supreme court? Yes I use small caps to refer to the supreme court. Frankly...they don't deserve my respect. These fundamental rights should all be well entrenched within the system and by now reconfirmed. How many other constitutional questions haven't been answered when there should be no argument as to its meaning. The courts have had too much time to make clear all arguments to the constitution to now be answering some. Make constitutional appeals to the supreme court free to anyone charged with a constitutional crime and keep it that way until the courts make the constitution idiot proof so a 10 year old can understand it. How can the supreme court now say that any law that can't be understood by ordinary people can't be enforced. Where were they 50 years ago or 5 years ago? Only when the laws are explained in simple terms can any court get away with saying that "ignorance of the law is no excuse". Get the supremes off their butts and make them define the laws in simpler terms. That's the first step in fixing the broken legal system.

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