Kavanaugh Protesters Are Asked if 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty' Is a Good Idea, Their Responses Are Jarring
One of the fundamental tenets of the American judicial system is the presumption of innocence, which is given life through what the law calls “due process.”
The Library of Congress defines due process as “a constitutional guarantee that prevents governments from impacting citizens in an abusive way. (emphasis added) In its modern form, due process includes both procedural standards that courts must uphold in order to protect peoples’ personal liberty and a range of liberty interests that statutes and regulations must not infringe.”
You’ll notice that Democrats’ moves during the confirmation fight over now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh absolutely impacted “citizens in an abusive way” with the way they attacked and maligned Kavanaugh until Saturday’s vote.
But more damning than the Democrats’ treatment of Kavanaugh has been their utter disregard for the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution.
Just in case you haven’t brushed up on your constitutional amendments lately, the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments guarantee, among other things, that no “person” can “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Simply put, in America, a person accused of wrongdoing should always be presumed innocent until proven guilty. It’s literally in the Constitution, despite Democrats’ best attempts to obscure that little fact.
One reason Democrats have been so brazen in their disdain for due process has been exposed by the The Daily Caller. In short, Democrats’ knew their base would be easy to convince.
The Daily Caller asked Kavanaugh protesters if they believe that he should be innocent until proven guilty. Check out the video by The Daily Caller reporter Benny Johnson here.
The answers were jarring, to say the least. At the same time, their responses eerily echoed the anti-due process rhetoric Democratic leaders have been spewing.
“Innocent until proven guilty. Do you think those rules apply here (regarding Judge Kavanaugh)?” the Johnson asked protesters in the street.
“Innocent until proven guilty for (Kavanaugh)? No,” one protester wearing an “I Am A Survivor” shirt said. “Absolutely not. He’s guilty all the way. Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
Actually, all witness statements — other than those of Kavanaugh’s accusers themselves — and the results of the FBI’s background investigation have found no evidence of Kavanaugh being guilty.
But Kavanugh didn’t deserve the presumption of innocence?
“I’ve heard that a lot, too,” a woman protesting Kavanaugh’s confirmation told Johnson. “Like, ‘He’s innocent until proven guilty.’ But then, I’m reminding people that’s in a court of law, which, this is not a court of law.”
An older woman holding a sign that read “Shouldn’t Hire Unfit Liar,” made similar remarks.
“Yes, (Kavanaugh) is innocent until proven guilty. But that’s not what this is. It’s not a court. It’s a job interview,” the woman said.
The two women are sort of right in that the Kavanaugh confirmation process was not a criminal court case. But the reality is that the man was accused very publicly of having committed a serious crime. The American public owed it to Kavanaugh, and to the country’s traditions, to not consider him guilty simply on the basis of that accusation — but that’s exactly what Democrats did.
Another older woman joined in the chorus of saying the presumption of innocence was irrelevant.
“No, but see the thing is, it’s not about innocent until proven guilty. It is about he will not stay still long enough and take responsibility for what has happened already. When the Senate refuses to allow the FBI to investigate him, it’s just (a) sham! It’s a total freaking sham!” she said.
Never mind that Kavanaugh sat through hours of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and, when he had the chance, denied loudly every accusation against him. And never mind that the Judiciary Committee absolutely requested the FBI investigate him. Why let facts get in the way of a great rant?
Things turned even darker when Johnson asked protesters if Kavanaugh even deserved due process. It’s one thing to think the man is guilty with every fiber of your being. It’s something much scarier when you don’t think the man even deserves to be heard. Several people all flatly told Johnson that no, Kavanaugh doesn’t deserve due process.
Any time someone accuses Democrats of trying to undermine our Constitution, The Daily Caller video should be the first piece of evidence presented.
Although, if you’re going by the Democratic logic on display here, I guess you don’t even need that evidence.
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