Date: Thu Nov 06 08:19:58 1997
To: Frank Grose
From: Rob Weinberg
Subject: Re: The Pray Fray
Quickie answer or two if I can. Will try and remember to redirect this home tonight to answer in more detail the main stuff there.
Forgive me for being ambiguous. I meant could you find yourself defending the Governor, directly or indirectly, if he carries this to confrontation and gets himself crosswise with some judge?
Oh, the Governor. Well, he's probably on his own, not just from me but the office as well. We swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and its interpretation even when we disagree with it. Under Alabama law, the Gov is entitled to his own voice in the courts, but the A.G. speaks for "the State." So, if the Gov called out the troops, unless it was constitutionally defensible to begin with, we'd not be defending him.
But, hey, that was a good, thoughtful response regarding Moore. You know, I just don't believe I could defend someone I knew or believed was guilty, or prosecute someone I felt was innocent. I just couldn't make a game or "lawyer wit contest" out of it. But I know our system of justice (flawed as it might be) depends on folks like you who can do that.
Not a "flaw," a "feature." The role of the lawyer is to test the system at every turn, to make the gov't prove its case in criminal matters. My role in defending civil litigation against state officials is to ensure that they may do their job unfettered from judicial interference, state or federal, unless they are doing something contrary to the law to begin with, in which case they better listen to me or they're on their own. There are bigger issues involved, precedents and the like that result, than just the case at hand. The system as a whole may actually be flawed, this sense that our adversary system will "distill the truth." But that's another topic for another day.
And if you'd moderate some on your beliefs about the Christian right, I'd vote for you.
Gee, thanks a lot. I'd vote for YOU, you right wing fanatic Christian whacko you. ; ) But then, your personal religious beliefs are supposed to be irrelevant to how good a government official you would be, no?
Gotta' run. Watch your mail tonight.
Rob
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