My father was a lawyer, my grandfather was a judge. One thing I heard over and over again as

[Raven]

a kid from both of them was "everyone is entitled to competent counsel, everyone deserves their day in court." My father represented large corporations but he also represented the elevator operator in his building (they had them in those days) who was falsely accused of rape. I remember that we celebrated the day he came home after winning that case.

This was the America I grew up in. Having those beliefs wasn't "radical left" or radical anything, it was American.

BTW, the only Democrat I think my father ever voted for was JFK.

[Ocelot II]

1. My dad was a lawyer, too, and I clearly remember an argument we had

when I was a "radical" teenager claiming the law was oppressive or something like that, and he responded to the effect that without laws and people who made and followed them we wouldn't have a society at all. He was the most honest person I've ever known, and also a Republican. But that was when you could have a conversation with Republicans. I don't think he'd recognize them now.

[mwmisses4289]

2. Sadly, he wouldn't be considered

a republican today. He'd probably be called a rino, or (horrors!) a woke, commie, antifa lover.
I vaguely remember the days as a young voter many many moons ago when I did vote for some Republicans, because they actually were good people who believed in the u.s. and the constitution and took their oath seriously.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Agreed. In Ethics at Law School, our professor asked if an attorney

should represent a client whose views s/he disagreed with. I invoked the name of my legal saint, Clarence Darrow, when I responded. Darrow represented both railroad scions and trusts -- and the publicly viewed Scum of the Earth (John Scopes of "The Monkey Trial" ). He believed his role was to advocate for their positions. His own opinion was irrelevant.

And that's how attorneys should present themselves in court as well as (if not more so) judges.

[allegorical oracle]

4. Not just people with disagreeable views. Even the worst serial killers are entitled to legal

counsel/due process. Guess TSF would just ship a Ted Bundy to El Salvador.

[erronis]

6. No, he'd give Ted Bundy a cabinet position or ambassadorship.

[yardwork]

9. And ship his accusers to El Salvador

[Henry203]

7. I know Henry Asbill

Who defended Bob McConnell ( VA governor). Henry was a raging liberal yet he defended McConnell and won.
He made that announcement at the SE white collar conference. We were the only 150 people who knew.
He introduced me to Roger Zuckerman of Zuckerman Spaeder.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. That's how you do it.

[twodogsbarking]

5. Beyond politics we have two mad men ignoring laws and removing democracy.

They want to control what you think.

[dchill]

11. They WANT everything.

They think it's theirs for the taking.

[calimary]

13. Indeed.

How many times have we seen the phrase “he wants…” when the donald comes up for discussion? Hard to count, by now.

[paleotn]

15. It's not and they can't have it. Gonna a be a hell of a fight.

[DENVERPOPS]

14. Two Mad Men??????????

Certainly you have forgotten about the 50 Republican Senators and the U.S. Supreme Court that enabled Trump, and encouraged him all the way from the beginning of his first day in office in 2017...........

Trump couldn't have existed for a day, if it wasn't for the U.S. Republican Senators, and the Republican U.S. Supreme Court.
Same with Musk and the hundreds of others that surround Trump........

AND, Trump and Musk aren't the first..........Go back to the CABAL of Cheney/Rumsfeld/etc during the WBush occupation of the White House........or HWBush's CABAL during the Reagan occupation of the White House.........

I keep repeating, the perfect title for a book about the last 45+ years would be:
WHILE THE NATION SLEPT.............

AND

"They" were all walking down the jungle path, swatting at mosquitoes, and were oblivious to the herd of charging elephants........
pun intended......

[Tetrachloride]

10. Attorneys are not for anyone unless they are paid.

This might be true.

[Raven]

12. I know many lawyers who dedicate a certain % of their practice to pro bono work.

[pat_k]

16. The values that have driven every decent thing this nation has ever accomplished...

.. are being twisted beyond all recognition. But real American values, like the four freedoms, that so many of us grew up with have survived, and will survive, because they are so fundamental to basic human decency.

And, BTW, my step-father was also an attorney. Way back when (the mid-to-late 70's), I always knew when a discussion was over and I had "won" because he would say : "You should be an attorney."