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With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful Hardcover – Illustrated, October 25, 2011
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From "the most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years" (Bill Moyers), a scathing critique of the two-tiered system of justice that has emerged in America
From the nation's beginnings, the law was to be the great equalizer in American life, the guarantor of a common set of rules for all. But over the past four decades, the principle of equality before the law has been effectively abolished. Instead, a two-tiered system of justice ensures that the country's political and financial class is virtually immune from prosecution, licensed to act without restraint, while the politically powerless are imprisoned with greater ease and in greater numbers than in any other country in the world.
Starting with Watergate, continuing on through the Iran-Contra scandal, and culminating with Obama's shielding of Bush-era officials from prosecution, Glenn Greenwald lays bare the mechanisms that have come to shield the elite from accountability. He shows how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying, and financial fraud.
Cogent, sharp, and urgent, this is a no-holds-barred indictment of a profoundly un-American system that sanctions immunity at the top and mercilessness for everyone else.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMetropolitan Books
- Publication dateOctober 25, 2011
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-109780805092059
- ISBN-13978-0805092059
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“Greenwald lets no one off the hook in demonstrating the vast differences in legal recourse between rich and poor, powerful and weak… When the executive, judicial and legislative branches collude to avoid enforcement, lawlessness is the end result.” ―Rachel Maddow
“Glenn Greenwald's latest book is an absolute must-read. Incredibly persuasive, rigorous and damning.” ―Christopher Hayes
“Glenn Greenwald is not just the American Left's most fearless political commentator; his fearlessness is such that he has shifted the expectations for everyone else, too. His rock-ribbed principles and absolute disregard for partisan favor have made U.S. political discourse edgier, more confrontational, and much, much better.” ―Rachel Maddow
“The first thing I do when I turn on the computer in the morning is go to Glenn Greenwald's blog to see what he said. He is truly one of our greatest writers right now.” ―Michael Moore
“The most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years.” ―Bill Moyers
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Product details
- ASIN : 0805092056
- Publisher : Metropolitan Books; First Edition (October 25, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780805092059
- ISBN-13 : 978-0805092059
- Item Weight : 15.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.81 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #123,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #23 in Civil Rights Law (Books)
- #112 in Law Enforcement Politics
- #129 in Civil Rights & Liberties (Books)
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About the author

Glenn Greenwald is the author of several bestsellers, including How Would a Patriot Act? and With Liberty and Justice for Some. His most recent book is No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. Acclaimed as one of the 25 most influential political commentators by The Atlantic, one of America's top 10 opinion writers by Newsweek, and one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013 by Foreign Policy, Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights litigator. He was a columnist for The Guardian until October 2013 and is now a founding editor of a new media outlet, The Intercept. He is a frequent guest on CNN, MSNBC, and various other television and radio outlets. He has won numerous awards for his NSA reporting, including the 2013 Polk Award for national security reporting, the top 2013 investigative journalism award from the Online News Association, the Esso Award for Excellence in Reporting (the Brazilian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and the 2013 Pioneer Award from Electronic Frontier Foundation. He also received the first annual I. F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism in 2009 and a 2010 Online Journalism Award for his investigative work on the arrest and detention of Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Greenwald led the Guardian reporting that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service.
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Greenwald makes the case in the United States today, rule of law is disappearing. Instead, we have what he calls "The Principle of Elite Immunity,"-the idea that political and business elites are never to be punished for their crimes, except perhaps if their crimes harm other elites. Greenwald blames the current mindset on Ford for pardoning Nixon and justifying the pardon on the grounds that prosecuting Nixon would be too divisive.
Now, personally, I don't think the pardon of Nixon would have been such a bad thing if it had been a one-time thing and the country had gotten back on course afterwards. However, Greenwald convincingly argues that the Nixon pardon was the beginning of a pattern of bad excuses for forgiving any and all high-level wrong doing in this country. Thus, we get pardons for Iran-Contra criminals, Bill Clinton suppressing inquiry into Regan and Bush's illegally providing of weapons to Iraq in spite of having promised investigations, and Obama's failure to prosecute the crimes of the Bush administration.
It's important to stress that the excuses really are ridiculous-read the book for the full recitation, but here's one especially bad example, both in terms of the flimsiness of the rationale and the fact that it was given by a member of our government's alleged watchdog, the media. When Bush pardoned Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger for multiple felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with Iran-Contra, Richard Cohen, on the grounds that Cohen had run into Weinberger quite a few times at Safeway, and he seemed like an OK guy to Cohen.
One of the strongest sections of the book is the coverage of the NSA wiretapping scandal and the decision to grant telecoms immunity for breaking the law on behalf of the Bush administration. Previously, I had known about the scandal, but had simply filed it away in my brain as one of the lesser crimes of the Bush administration. However, Greenwald explains how by granting the telecoms retroactive immunity for breaking the law, Democrats (and Congress was controlled by Democrats at the time) passed on a rare opportunity to get an actual investigation into Bush's crimes.
Several other things stick out about the telecom immunity story. First, Congress' actions can't be defended on the grounds that the telecoms thought what they were doing was legal, because under the original law that was a valid defense. Second, the telecom immunity bill was written with heavy influence from corporate lobbyists, a troubling example of how, in Greenwald's words, "major corporations literally write our nation's laws." Third, as a senator Obama went back on an initial promise to help block telecom immunity. Had I known that fact when Obama was elected, his other lapses in office would have surprised me less.
By comparison, the discussion of lawbreaking in relation to the 2008 financial crisis was a bit weak. It includes quotes from a number of authorities, including Alan Greenspan saying that much of what happened was "just plain fraud," and cites one case where a former CEO was found to have committed fraud but was allowed to settle his case with a fine of $67, a fraction of the half-billion dollars he made while the fraud was going on. However, unlike most parts of the book, the laws that were supposedly broken are never explained clearly.
In fairness to Greenwald, part of his point is that the financial crisis was never thoroughly investigated, making it hard to know what crimes were or were not committed. Still, given all the anger at Wall Street right now, the book could have benefited a lot from more clarity on that point. Also, Greenwald's focus on lawbreaking means that his mention of how lobbyists managed to get important regulations repealed doesn't have a clear place in his narrative, and I wonder if that wasn't the bigger problem (though it would still be a sign of how corrupt our government is).
Anyway, With Liberty and Justice for Some is an excellent book in spite of this complaint, and telecom immunity and the financial crisis are only two examples of the problems Greenwald covers. So go buy the book, even if you think you know all about these problems. Looking at any one incident in isolation, it's tempting to say, "Okay, that was bad, but I'm sure it won't happen again." Greenwald, however, makes clear that we suffer from a recurring pattern of elites committing serious crimes and getting de facto immunity for doing so, a pattern that will likely continue until we do something to stop it.
While 90% of the book focused on the benefits that the elite receive when it comes to "justice," Greenwald also addresses the problems that now exist because of the fervor of "law and order" candidates. From the privatization of jails, to how the poor fare in the judicial system, Greenwald paints a picture that makes you want to get involved in changing this system.
However, as other reviewers have pointed out, Greenwald doesn't offer up any suggestions on what individuals can do to start changing this system. We know that one tweet started the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and one woman's Facebook page created enough momentum to make Bank of America reverse a decision about charging to use debit cards.
Greenwald offers up a rationale why we tolerate such an unfair system.
"So why do Americans tolerate such a draconian legal system, one which imprisons exceptionally large numbers of people for no good reason? The answer is clear: because most people believe-correctly- that they themselves are unlikely to be sucked into the its vortex. They are right to believe this because the two-tiered justice system that separates elites from ordinary Americans intensifies as one moves down the rungs of power and privilege. The rich and powerful are able to commit crimes with impunity far more easily than middle-class Americans; but similarly, middle-class criminals are far more likely to escape unpunished than the poorest among us."
What is missing from this book are recommendations on what people can do to increase the chatter about this topic. Whether its tweeting some of the disturbing statistics, writing blog posts,or pointing to organizations that are working on this issue, Greenwald let's his readers down by not offering action steps that can make a difference.
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Due to the fact that the media has largely morphed from watchdog to lapdog and easily misinforms the public as much as it informs, my utopian wish would be to see the schools of the nation truly educate those who will eventually be electing the future servants of the country - because it is the servants who bear the responsibility for allowing such travesties to flourish. Mr. Greenwald's infuriating and important book would go a long way to fulfilling such a curriculum.








