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“No One Is Above the Law” Has Become the Biggest Lie in American Politics
Ask anyone outside Washington what “no one is above the law” means, and you get a shrug. That’s because the phrase has stopped describing a principle and has become a laughingstock—especially when applied to the man occupying the Oval Office.
For years, critics warned that a president with unchecked power would turn the justice system into a political cudgel. Now we’re living it. Federal prosecutions brought against former officials like James Comey and Letitia James—championed by loyalists installed by the White House—were dismissed by judges because the prosecutor wasn’t even legally appointed. The Justice Department is now scrambling to appeal those dismissals rather than admit a mistake.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice released a cache of heavily redacted Epstein files, omitting at least 16 key documents including photos tied to the president himself—and did it on a holiday weekend, sparking bipartisan outrage and accusations of a cover-up.
This isn’t accountability. It’s theater.
The courts have been forced to rule against dubious prosecutions, not because the rule of law is vibrant, but because there are still some procedural guardrails left. Cases collapsed not due to evidentiary clarity but due to simple legality: the prosecutor wasn’t validly appointed. That’s not justice—it’s incompetence wrapped in partisan power.
At the same time, the very notion of presidential accountability has been hollowed out by judicial decisions expanding immunity for official acts—effectively saying presidents can’t be criminally prosecuted for core actions of office. That’s a structural green light for executive misconduct.
And let’s be clear: these aren’t fringe complaints. Lawmakers and legal experts across the spectrum are warning that the department’s behavior—whether redacting evidence or embracing politically driven charges—deepens distrust in the justice system and suggests a double standard where power gets protection, and opponents get prosecution.
The truth is blunt and ugly:
“No one is above the law” now means “No one is above the law unless they have enough power, allies, or procedural loopholes.”
That’s not just a slogan eroded by partisan spin—it’s a lived reality that’s corroding democratic legitimacy. If we want the rule of law to mean anything, we must stop pretending it already does.