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Brett Kavanaugh is not entitled to be presumed innocent
Brett Kavanaugh is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, to be presumed innocent of the charges until he is proven guilty, say his defenders.
NOT. The so-called presumption of innocence has to do with the burden of proof the state must meet to convict someone of a crime. It is a heavy burden. If the state cannot prove someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the person is legally not guilty. Everyone may be pretty sure he or she did it. The Defendant may not have even argued a case. It doesn’t matter. As a matter of law, if the jury is not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, they must acquit.
The reason the state has this heavy burden is clear: it has nearly unlimited resources — all provided at taxpayer expense — while the defendant has very limited resources, sometimes not even enough to afford a lawyer. And the coercive power of the state is something that our Founding Fathers feared. After all, it is the one entity legally empowered to take away our sacred rights — life, liberty, and property — as they were originally enumerated in the Declaration of Independence.
Brett Kavanaugh faces the loss of none of these rights if the Senators even suspect that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. Instead, he stands to receive one of the greatest honors any American can get: elevation to the…
