Legal Question in Criminal Law in North Carolina

The US Supreme Court will do whatever it wants should it decide to hear the case.

If you believe in the fiction of justice, the Court in theory gives due consideration to its prior decisions called stare decisis. However, if the cases that laid down the principle are very old or the reason for the rule no longer applies, the court will overrule the prior case. An example is the Dred Scott case which held that slaves are property. Nobody would seriously enforce the holding of this case today.

More relevant (and for the more cynical of us who do not believe in justice), there are many other factors - such as the political makeup of the court, the political landscape in general, perhaps public policy concerns, the effect this case will have on future decisions, and the nature (translation - wealth) of the parties. Unfortunately, there is no justice and its a question of wealth - whoever has the gold makes the rules.

We have 5 Republicans on the court - Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts are ultra conservative law and order types. While we have a moderate (Kennedy) and some so-called liberals (Kagan, Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor), these people are not in the mold of the great liberals of the 1960s.

What are you asking them to decide? You are not going to get a favorable ruling on the issue of civil rights or the rights accorded a defendant in a criminal case. It is more likely that this group will side with law enforcement or wealthy corporations, as in the FEC v. Citizens United case that allowed corporations to virtually take over elections by spending unlimited sums of money in elections or the Kelo v. New London case which allowed a goverment to take private property for "redevelopment" purposes and give it to a private developer.

I'm sorry if I am jaded, but I no longer have any faith in the legal system or our sorry excuse that we have for a judiciary. Perhaps another lawyer here will be able to offer a more favorable opinion.

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