"Why Some Men Are Above the Law"

In 2016, the eminent philosopher Martha Nussbaum publicly recounted for (I believe) the first time her "Bill Cosby" story -- not about Cosby, but about her being raped by a different famous "TV dad" in the late 1960s. The title of the story was "Why Some Men Are Above the Law", and Nussbaum takes little time to address the myriad reasons why she never did report the attack until some fifty years later. 

One obvious reason for her reticence, Nussbaum noted, was the near-certainty that her attacker would "either to portray me as an extortionist or to sue me for defamation." On this point, Nussbaum said something -- in a parenthetical aside no less! -- that I've found myself returning to year after year:

(The famous are indeed unusually exposed to extortion, and that vulnerability itself is an aspect of their impunity: everyone easily believes that this is what a complaining woman is after.)

This is something I've turned over and over in my head. The famous are exposed to extortion; that is the reality. It is a true vulnerability; it isn't made up. And yet that vulnerability becomes itself a form of impunity: because it's always so obviously possible for them to be accused in bad faith, any accusation immediately falls under a shadow of suspicion.

I thought of this again today, when it was announced that a different television personality would be indicted for various crimes by the state of New York. Donald Trump's defenders have quickly raised hue and cry over this being a political witch hunt, dirty politics, a partisan plot (this, of course, does not even get into the de rigueur allegation that it's a Soros-led plot). I heard it said that Barack Obama will be the last president not to be indicted upon leaving office, as surely this is the new normal in tit-for-tat partisan squabbling.

The thing is, the critics have an inkling of a point. Donald Trump, by his station, is more vulnerable than the average Joe to being targeted in a political prosecution. The prospect of partisan motivations does loom larger. But that vulnerability is part of the impunity; the fact that this specter can never quite be dispelled is ultimately what has let Trump run riot over the civil and criminal laws of this country for years. No matter what he does or how brazen he gets, we'll always have to (rightfully!) second-guess whether we're letting politics overcome law -- far more so than in a standard criminal case.  It is the same ultimate story that Nussbaum told. And for too long, it has let Donald Trump stand above the law.