T.E. W. (terez93) reviewed Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust on + 323 more book reviews
"The traditional blindfold on Lady Justice was gone. It had been replaced with a MAGA hat."
Admittedly, I had some reservations about taking this up again, but, what the hell. Glutton for punishment, me. Especially after reading the premise of this book, which goes something like "JC... uses his esteemed career in the law to show how best to restore trust in the United States Department of Justice."
Um... wat?
Lest we forget, dude WAS fired from the Bureau for several serious errors in judgment, admittedly both real and imagined, and not infrequently politically motivated. It's going to take more than his cited telling the American people the "truth," showing them the work, like a math problem, producing transparency, and taking down J. Edgar Hoover's name from the building that currently bears it in favor of civil rights leader John Lewis. One of the major reasons for the lack of trust is simply the lack of accountability for prominent people. There's undeniably a double standard, which is clearly manifest in this book. Wealthy and powerful people repeatedly escape any real justice, however you define it, and that's the primary reason for distrust. Well, that and the blatant examples of civil rights violations I cited above.
Here we go again.
That's in light of my previous statements about some very problematic occurrences in the Bureau and the Department of Justice, which were committed with the latter's full blessing, at least according to the complaints. In my last review of a book written by a former FBI employee, I noted some very disturbing examples of the agency at its worst: they've been sued multiple times in recent years for harassment of and violations against various individuals for multiple instances of civil rights violations. Muslims are a primary target. There's the famous case from Orange County, California, whereby the FBI was accused of illegally surveilling three men in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights, then attempting to hide behind the "state secrets privilege" to avoid legal liability.
Update: as of November, 2021, the Supreme Court has decided to take this case, and will hear whether the government can indeed invoke this "state secrets privilege" to shield itself from liability and accountability. Update update: In March, 20200, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled, somewhat sidestepping the issue, only on the narrow question of whether a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) displaces the state-secrets privilege, so the matter will now be re-directed to lower courts for additional proceedings. More lack of accountability and further erosion of trust.
Yet another case, in an even worse and more appalling display of systematic abuse, involved another Muslim man, whom, in 2018, an FBI agent repeatedly approached and pressured to become a "snitch." When he refused, in retaliation, the US government placed him on a no-fly list, as they had with three other Muslim men who refused to serve as FBI informants. As noted, even his family members were targeted, when the FBI threatened to deny his wife's naturalization if he refused to become one of their stooges. This case has met with more success in demanding accountability, however. In December, 2020, The Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can be sued for putting three men on the no-fly list in retaliation for their refusal to cooperate with FBI officials.
Refreshingly, however, in addition to his own, JC notes several of the FBI's notable failures, including the fiasco with the Charleston shooter, whom they failed to stop purchasing the firearm he used to murder innocents in a historic church, some of them elderly women; the severe breakdown in trust resulting from faulty science, whereby many innocent persons were wrongfully convicted, and probably even executed; and various other institutional failures, which he at least does try to address.
The title is something of a misnomer, however. This is more autobiography than his first book, where he starts by recounting his early career with the New York office, where he recounts some of his more notable mistakes. He still isn't all about the Trump Hate, though, not until the last couple of chapters, and, even then, it's diluted. I think there's so much more he could say, but, out of decency, doesn't.
In fact, this whole short book reads something like an extensive essay in response to a question employers often ask prospective hires, "tell me about a mistake you've made and how you rectified it and learned from it," or "what are your greatest weaknesses and how have you overcome them," or something to that effect. It focuses less on leadership and more on the individual. I agree with some of the other reviewers who stated that it could be condensed into a podcast or something, which it seems to resemble. Overall, it was a worthwhile read, but it's still missing a lot. I keep reading his material because I keep hoping that I will see something I never do, and, despite learning something, I always seem to walk away somewhat disappointed. There are flags throughout, hinting at something so much bigger than what appears in the text, but they remain tantalizingly out of reach.
That said: JC, you have a lot of ground to cover and work to do if you're going to restore "trust" in any of these alphabet agencies. What has been done over the past half-decade, at least, including the weaponizing of hallowed institutions such as the FBI to use as a tool of destruction for political rivals, has potentially damaged them and their reputation beyond repair.
Admittedly, I had some reservations about taking this up again, but, what the hell. Glutton for punishment, me. Especially after reading the premise of this book, which goes something like "JC... uses his esteemed career in the law to show how best to restore trust in the United States Department of Justice."
Um... wat?
Lest we forget, dude WAS fired from the Bureau for several serious errors in judgment, admittedly both real and imagined, and not infrequently politically motivated. It's going to take more than his cited telling the American people the "truth," showing them the work, like a math problem, producing transparency, and taking down J. Edgar Hoover's name from the building that currently bears it in favor of civil rights leader John Lewis. One of the major reasons for the lack of trust is simply the lack of accountability for prominent people. There's undeniably a double standard, which is clearly manifest in this book. Wealthy and powerful people repeatedly escape any real justice, however you define it, and that's the primary reason for distrust. Well, that and the blatant examples of civil rights violations I cited above.
Here we go again.
That's in light of my previous statements about some very problematic occurrences in the Bureau and the Department of Justice, which were committed with the latter's full blessing, at least according to the complaints. In my last review of a book written by a former FBI employee, I noted some very disturbing examples of the agency at its worst: they've been sued multiple times in recent years for harassment of and violations against various individuals for multiple instances of civil rights violations. Muslims are a primary target. There's the famous case from Orange County, California, whereby the FBI was accused of illegally surveilling three men in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights, then attempting to hide behind the "state secrets privilege" to avoid legal liability.
Update: as of November, 2021, the Supreme Court has decided to take this case, and will hear whether the government can indeed invoke this "state secrets privilege" to shield itself from liability and accountability. Update update: In March, 20200, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled, somewhat sidestepping the issue, only on the narrow question of whether a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) displaces the state-secrets privilege, so the matter will now be re-directed to lower courts for additional proceedings. More lack of accountability and further erosion of trust.
Yet another case, in an even worse and more appalling display of systematic abuse, involved another Muslim man, whom, in 2018, an FBI agent repeatedly approached and pressured to become a "snitch." When he refused, in retaliation, the US government placed him on a no-fly list, as they had with three other Muslim men who refused to serve as FBI informants. As noted, even his family members were targeted, when the FBI threatened to deny his wife's naturalization if he refused to become one of their stooges. This case has met with more success in demanding accountability, however. In December, 2020, The Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can be sued for putting three men on the no-fly list in retaliation for their refusal to cooperate with FBI officials.
Refreshingly, however, in addition to his own, JC notes several of the FBI's notable failures, including the fiasco with the Charleston shooter, whom they failed to stop purchasing the firearm he used to murder innocents in a historic church, some of them elderly women; the severe breakdown in trust resulting from faulty science, whereby many innocent persons were wrongfully convicted, and probably even executed; and various other institutional failures, which he at least does try to address.
The title is something of a misnomer, however. This is more autobiography than his first book, where he starts by recounting his early career with the New York office, where he recounts some of his more notable mistakes. He still isn't all about the Trump Hate, though, not until the last couple of chapters, and, even then, it's diluted. I think there's so much more he could say, but, out of decency, doesn't.
In fact, this whole short book reads something like an extensive essay in response to a question employers often ask prospective hires, "tell me about a mistake you've made and how you rectified it and learned from it," or "what are your greatest weaknesses and how have you overcome them," or something to that effect. It focuses less on leadership and more on the individual. I agree with some of the other reviewers who stated that it could be condensed into a podcast or something, which it seems to resemble. Overall, it was a worthwhile read, but it's still missing a lot. I keep reading his material because I keep hoping that I will see something I never do, and, despite learning something, I always seem to walk away somewhat disappointed. There are flags throughout, hinting at something so much bigger than what appears in the text, but they remain tantalizingly out of reach.
That said: JC, you have a lot of ground to cover and work to do if you're going to restore "trust" in any of these alphabet agencies. What has been done over the past half-decade, at least, including the weaponizing of hallowed institutions such as the FBI to use as a tool of destruction for political rivals, has potentially damaged them and their reputation beyond repair.
