The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution is the one in which we are given a guarantee of due process of law.

Well, sort of.

What we learned in civics classes about having a right to due process of law before being deprived of life, liberty, or property has a lot of big holes in it. In almost all cases in almost all places in the country, at whatever level of government, due process can be violated with impunity if those who are doing the violating do so in the course of their jobs as, say, judges and prosecutors.

What that means is that you can have your life wrecked by any single incompetent judge or lawyer, and you have absolutely no recourse to pursue restitution.

And what that leads to is a bunch of unprincipled low-lifes who go ahead and violate due process even if they aren’t truly incompetent, because how’re you going stop them? There are some jurisdictions that have exceptions to such immunity for the actions of people performing their ordinary duties. The Vermont Supreme Court, for example, handed down a decision in 2005 that says in a case of malicious prosecution, then the culprits can be sued. But that means one must have a good chance of proving malice. And finding a lawyer willing to take such a case.

So much for guarantees of due process. Bureaucrats know this, and malicious bureaucrats know it best, and use it against whomever they will.

Peace.

Deborah Alicen