I have been alarmed at how ready many citizens have been to so quickly convict Roy Moore of the grievously serious crime of child molestation with scarcely a passing thought of any of the factors which would go into such a momentous decision –the right of confrontation of the witnesses, the right of cross-examination to test the veracity of their accounts, but, first and foremost, one of the most cherished of all our rights guaranteed to an American citizen, the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty.

One story is illustrative of how far this has gone, and not only in the reliably-loony never-Trump far left mainstream media. In listening to one of my favorite podcasts recently, I heard a person I know to be a most intellectually gifted commentator of the center-right declare, with great certitude, that Judge Moore was a child molester, was also probably at least guilty of attempted rape, and that he had been banned from the mall in Gadsden, Alabama. The account of the first two offenses have been cast in great doubt by subsequent reporting and the manager of the mall during the relevant time period has told reporters that Judge Moore was never, to his knowledge, banned from the mall.

As one who spent many decades as an actual, working, practicing Trial Lawyer, a claim I still make with pride (admittedly, one among  a steadily decreasing number, sad to say) in order to assure that I distinguish myself from those of the TV-Billboard variety, it concerns me that we are truly witnessing, as the title of an excellent piece in The Federalist styles it, A Society Murdering Due Process, 

“The real story today is that emotional feeding frenzies in public discourse put us on a path that leads—unless something dramatic changes—to the end of due process. Due process and the rule of law are concepts fast becoming meaningless to Americans hypnotized by media.”

“As the mainstream media has told it for decades: there should be a presumption of guilt based on any accusation of sexual misconduct, whether a Moore character running for Senate or a hapless college kid  accused of rape or anybody else. Oh, and the media has the prerogative of controlling the narrative, picking and choosing who’s guilty.”

The author, Stella Morabito, then briefly reviews the sordid outbreak of lechery–and rank hypocrisy as a result of same– on the part of a number of far-left “notables”, with Al Franken leading the list most recently, and the truly pathetic calls for “justice” for Bill Clinton by such luminaries as Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand, who was campaigning with one and the same alleged rapist mere months ago.

That is followed by an excellent brief summary of the root causes of the collapse of our respect for Due Process, and, I would argue, also the Rule of Law:

“Whatever today’s circus means, it should serve as an object lesson that due process first dies in the public square. It’s only going to get worse unless people learn to focus more on the causes of our lethal disease (e.g., political correctness, agitprop, power-mongering, the practice of ritual defamation, etc.) than on the symptoms of certain media- and politico-selected diseased people.”

“If we could wrest our brains away from the sewer of social media, perhaps we could see that we’re living in the Twilight Zone. Trying to discern what is real from what is fake is a tall order in today’s media world, unless you’ve worked hard to cultivate a sense of discernment. Navigating the “news” is like taking a walk through a labyrinthine hall of smoke and mirrors.”

“This is why I think Moore’s case, as with all Gloria Allred-sponsored side shows and their unpredicted spawn, is really about the future of due process. Will it live or die? Will we be able to revive the true meaning of due process, i.e., the basic principle that people should be judged fairly on the basis of evidence? Or will we succumb to raw emotion and all of the thoughtless lynching that goes with it? Will the term “due process” simply end up as a garbage term that means whatever anybody wants it to mean?”

Then, she presents what may be the best short analysis I have seen of the gargantuan hypocrisy reflected in the double standard at play in the Al Franken-Roy Moore circus:

“A huge swath of Hollywood and the media have been dictating to us for decades that due process should not apply to hicks and unsophisticated moralists, as they’ve labelled Moore. If it applies at all, then it only applies to upstanding and enlightened citizens like Sen. Al Franken. Now we learn that Franken sexually harassed women, including newcaster Leeann Tweeden. He admits to the photographic evidence of doing so. But longtime media rules say he’s entitled to “due process,” or at least a sense of lenience and forgiveness.”