This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:00 AM

Preliminary facts and thoughts about Eric Holder

Is Obama's likely nominee for Attorney General an encouraging sign for advocates of the Constitution and the rule of law?

Read other letters about this article

  • Wednesday, November 19, 2008 09:57 AM

    clients and morality

    The tenet of equal right to representation for all being grounded in the concept of fair play and justice even for those morally reviled, one's revulsion for the representation of the corrupt but super-wealthy is itself grounds for application of the tenet. The tenet cannot stand or fall depending on the popularity or influence of the represented at any given time.

    Marrying the worthiness of representing an "evil" client with the client's paucity of resources or influence, saying that "evil" cients with an abundance of such are not entitled to the same assumption, is an unsustainable paradox. This is because, if such a moral standard actually took hold, the list of people willing to represent the wealthy evil would be reduced to such a degree as to place them, paradoxically, in the camp most needing the right of equal representation.

    You cannot say those deemed "evil" are entitled to representation and fair play, while exempting from the class of things deemed "evil" those entitites that you consider MOST evil by dint of their wealth.

    To press the point, many lawyers and law professors rush at the opportunity to represent alleged terrorist detainees, due to the professional prestige and opportunity to make histoical precedent that such opportunities allow. Substituting that incentive with the desire to make money, and do we have a difference worthy of inverting the principle of equal representation?

    Bye for now.

Most Active Letters Threads

684

Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation

The "new" approach to Afghanistan touted by White House officials seems quite old
553

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
543

The crazy, irrational beliefs of Muslims

Tom Friedman explains the real problem: stupid Muslims think the U.S. is about war and aggression.
440

The face of rotted Washington

Evan Bayh demands more debt-financed war - fought by others - while boasting that he's a stern "deficit hawk."
306

Yes, it's Obama's war now

An uninspiring speech sells a dubious policy, but progressives who feel betrayed have only themselves to blame

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon