Update on the Rape of Lady Justice

The 19 terrorists who hijacked jet airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center towers and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, were incapable of playing by the rules because of their radical Islamic zealotry. Over 3,000 innocent people died. Now the life of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, may be spared because zealots in the Bush administration also are incapable of playing by the rules.

Regular visitors to Kiko's House know that I have often harped on the administration's abomindable record in prosecuting terrorists. That is directly related to a top-to-bottom, White House to Justice Department zealotry to do it their way, no matter the consequences, including an unwillingness to play by the rules that you and I must follow. Those would be things like the so-called Rule of Law that is the foundation on which the American justice system is built and a respect for a quaint document from the olden days called the Constitution of the United States of America.

And so we have the sight today of the sentencing trial of Moussaoui descending into chaos following the disclosure that a government lawyer improperly coached witnesses in the latest rape of Lady Justice, she of the blindfold and balanced scales.

Judge Leonie M. Brinkema opened today's trial session by declaring that "in all my years on the bench, I've never seen a more egregious violation of the rule about witnesses." She then recessed the hearing to consider whether to declare a mistrial or agree to a request from Mr. Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers that she end the trial and order that he be imprisoned for life instead of executed, as the government has urged.

(Update: Brinkema decided on Tuesday afternoon to allow the trial to proceed but without the testimony of the prosecution-coached witnesses.)