Not mine. The system worked — but only after Strauss-Kahn lost one important post and, most likely, his chances for another, even more important one, the presidency of France. Maybe it couldn’t happen to a creepier guy, but Strauss-Kahn has been done a terrible disservice. It remains possible that the housekeeper is both liar and victim, but it is looking less and less likely. Either way, the case against Strauss-Kahn cannot be sustained. Her credibility is too shattered…

We have, thankfully, a criminal justice system that takes seriously the word of an immigrant chambermaid against that of a powerful international figure. We have, thankfully, a criminal justice system that requires prosecutors to hand over exculpatory evidence. Any time a criminal case is dropped, any time an accused is acquitted at trial, there is the inevitable questioning about the ruin of a reputation. That is an unfortunate but unavoidable cost of an adversarial system. But the cost in this case was pushed unnecessarily high by needlessly aggressive prosecutorial tactics.