"Cop-killer" is a powerful epithet, rooted in an understandable outrage, but it is also a verbal barrier to any disinterested understanding of the underlying case, the 1981 murder of officer Daniel Faulkner, which is an undisputed fact. Also a fact, Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook) was convicted in 1982 of the murder. Another fact, usually omitted from summaries of the event, is that Abu-Jamal was also shot, in the lower abdomen, a wound that prevented him from fleeing the scene. This matters because none of the eyewitness statements describe the officer or anyone else firing any weapons, and no one says Abu-Jamal shot himself. That's only the beginning of the evidentiary strangeness of this case. It appears, from a brief review, that the jury verdict was supported by at least a preponderance of not very strong evidence, but perhaps not enough to meet the standard of beyond reasonable doubt. Unlike some cases of wrongful conviction, this one lacks any credible alternative to the central conclusion reached by the jury, but there are enough contradictions, omissions, and procedural failures to make anyone wonder, with some humility, just what really happened.
With Abu-Jamal in prison for life, the appearance of justice has been met -- except for those who will settle for nothing but the death penalty. But that is an emotional demand, not a legal or rational one. It is the reflexive, but unreflective emotional cry of pain from Faulkner's widow and his fellow officers, as expressed here in Maureen Faulkner's online petition on change.org, with extreme bitterness: "In the three decades that followed [the murder], Abu-Jamal filed appeal after appeal -- each rooted in lies, distortions and allegations of civil rights violations. Today, as Officer Faulkner lies in his grave, Abu-Jamal has become a wealthy celebrity and continues to spew his vitriol from prison."
This isn't argument, it's ad hominem attack. Although the consequences here do not include thousands of dead Iraqis and Americans, this is hysterical manipulation every bit as much as the scare-mongering of "a smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud." And yes, it is also a protected form of free speech. But it is not a reasonable basis for governing, especially when it stampedes a majority in the Senate. That majority has done a lynch mob's job metaphorically and the White House called them on it with startlingly mild language:
"The Senate's failure to confirm Debo Adegbile to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice is a travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant. Mr. Adegbile's qualifications are impeccable. He represents the best of the legal profession, with wide-ranging experience, and the deep respect of those with whom he has worked. His unwavering dedication to protecting every American's civil and Constitutional rights under the law -- including voting rights -- could not be more important right now. And Mr. Adegbile's personal story -- rising from adversity to become someone who President Bush's Solicitor General referred to as one of the nation's most capable litigators -- is a story that proves what America has been and can be". The fact that his nomination was defeated solely based on his legal representation of a defendant runs contrary to a fundamental principle of our system of justice"."
That Senate majority -- but especially those seven Democratic Senators -- who voted against Adegbile's nomination did much worse than merely deny advancement to a capable and principled lawyer without any cogent reason for doing so. Adegbile may well be hurt, but he seems likely to survive this assault, which he has apparently suffered with a silent grace.
The seven timorous Democrats, in their collaboration with a nihilistic Republican strategy, has added to the damage from which American democracy will be a long time recovering, if it ever can.
These seven democrats represent profiles in no courage, running scared on a vote that should not have required any courage. These seven Democrats have colluded in a vote that reeks of racial bigotry --
" A vote that attacks due process of law --
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