by Ben Stein
In 1967, I had the privilege of studying criminal law at Yale University. The teacher was a superpower in the field named Joe Goldstein.
After a short time, we got to a series of cases where a prosecutor had empaneled a grand jury and gotten an indictment against some poor soul — almost always poverty-stricken and often black — who had either no evidence against him (and he was almost always male). That poor soul usually was convicted. He went to prison and that was that.
The evidence put before the grand jury — again — was almost always trivial or nil. The convict rarely was afforded an appeal and, even if he did appeal, he rarely got any relief. This was called prosecutorial discretion or misconduct.
I asked Professor Goldstein where in the Constitution was the limit on prosecutorial discretion. He laughed a rueful laugh and said simply, “There isn’t any. It’s a real problem.”
Right now, we are seeing an astonishingly horrible example. A huge rogue wave of rogue prosecutors has been unleashed against Donald Trump and his colleagues charging him with wildly improbable “crimes.” One of these started April 15, alleging that the Republican candidate for president, in violation of law, paid “hush money” to a woman supposedly named “Stormy Daniels.” This was paid illegally from corporate funds, said the prosecutor, and the pliant grand jury agreed.
Now, Mr. Trump might be hamstrung in campaigning. He might be in prison for a “crime” that basically does not exist in the real world except as part of a “coup d’état” against Republicans. The prosecutor might be able to demolish the parts of the Constitution that set forth how a president is elected.
This is a disaster. A genuine catastrophe. But it’s happening in front of our eyes.
A coup d’état right now. Not by a gunshot to the back of Mr. Trump’s head, as it might be in another country. But by the evil of prosecutors and judges and juries.
It gets even worse: much of this mischief is being done by black Americans in legal robes. Is it because they think it’s revenge against the white man for the VERY REAL injustices that have been done to them? If so, it’s ripping at the weakest seam in this great nation, and it scares me a lot.
God help us.
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Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Trump White House Archived
