Pick up today's newspaper. Read how Sen. Mike Lee (and four other Republican senators) are protesting that the defendants in the Capitol riot are being prosecuted more vigorously than those who participated in violent protests in 2020.
Now, one must wonder if the Republican senators have done their homework, that they should even be assuming that justice is not being equally divided. It would seem they should be bringing a list of offenses committed in the 2020 protests and comparing them directly to those of the Capitol protest. Instead, from what I read, the Republican senators mostly ask questions: How many people were arrested for committing crimes during the 2020 riots? Did federal law enforcement officers use geolocation data from defendants' cell phones? How many rioters were released on bail? Etc.
Still, Lee and his fellows are right. Justice should be equitable. So great was the fright from our nation's very Capitol having come under attack that we sought urgently to bring all those offenders to justice. That is not wrong. But, if we were lax in prosecuting those in the 2020 protests -- on both sides of the question -- then we should go back and see if more can be done.
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