This is why I think Moore’s case, as with all Gloria Allred-sponsored side shows and their unpredicted spawn, is really about the future of due process. Will it live or die? Will we be able to revive the true meaning of due process, i.e., the basic principle that people should be judged fairly on the basis of evidence? Or will we succumb to raw emotion and all of the thoughtless lynching that goes with it? Will the term “due process” simply end up as a garbage term that means whatever anybody wants it to mean?

Some folks would say that the concept of due process only applies in a court of law, and has nothing to do with the vicissitudes of public opinion. That’s a nice sentiment for a different era not controlled by a propaganda media. But due process does not exist in a vacuum. It gets its oxygen from a public understanding of what it means. If society loses its comprehension of the idea of equal treatment under the law, based on a moral code that should apply equally to all, it really doesn’t matter that we aren’t in a court of law.

Let’s not forget that public opinion has always been used as a mechanism to change public policy.