Due Process - Keeping Them Honest

I found a great quote in a 1967 Supreme Court case: Due process of law is the primary and indispensable foundation of individual freedom. It is the basic and essential term in the social compact which defines the rights of the individual and delimits the powers which the state may exercise. Frankfurter has said: "The history of American freedom is, in no small measure, the history of procedure." But in addition, the procedural rules which have been fashioned from the generality of due process are our best instruments for the distillation and evaluation of essential facts from the conflicting welter of data that life and our adversary methods present.It is these instruments of due process which enhance the possibility that truth will emerge from the confrontation of opposing versions and conflicting data. "Procedure is to law what `scientific method' is to science." IN RE GAULT, 387 U.S. 1 (1967) ......... That's why criminal defense lawyers fight for defendants that often are guilty as charged or if not, just nasty people who've committed crimes just as bad as the ones they're charged with. It keeps the system honest for all of us.