Thread by @EveKeneinan

Bill Cosby does not deserve to be free according to justice — but he does in line with human Law.

We cannot make exceptions to DUE PROCESS even for the sake of justice, because then exceptions will be made by calling it “justice” whether it is or is not—and there is no justice.

The law, which upholds the right to due process, only approximates justice. And it does it by treating everyone the same.

We make use of universal principles of the law and particular circumstances of each case in trial.

Universal principles respect our human equality of rights. They also, however, treat everyone alike: both the guilty and the innocent.

It offends our sense of perfect justice that the guilty should be shielded by rights—but because we are not angels, it is THE BEST WE CAN DO.

We want, in the light of perfect justice, to make an exception to Bill Cosby’s rights to due process *because we think we know he is guilty*.

Perhaps we do know that.

But think what it would mean to *make a rights exception* — on a case by case basis. That would mean NO RIGHTS.

Never forget: The perfect is the enemy of the good.

The law is good. It protects us all. As human beings, the more we live in a world of laws and not of men, the better it is for us.

Otherwise men, not laws, decide our fates.

What magistrate do you trust to decide yours?

So while I have mixed *feelings* about the release of Cosby — my sense of justice is offended — my *judgment* is that it is procedurally correct.