Why it's critical that Jan. 6 rioters' rights are respected

But the lack of participation a few weeks ago doesn’t negate that maybe the activists weren’t entirely wrong about detention facilities that are widely acknowledged as harsh. As Lamberth asked jail officials and their lawyers about the conditions facing the prisoners awaiting trial: “Does no one care?”…

To be perfectly clear: nothing that happened on Jan. 6 is excusable. The violence that played out on Capitol Hill was unacceptable then and remains so today. But just as those who were arrested during last year’s protests against police brutality deserved to have their civil rights respected, so too do the insurrectionists who sought to topple democracy. It’s for courts, not police in the field or corrections officers in extrajudicial settings, to decide their fate.

And that brings discomfort, at least to me. Emotionally, it’s impossible to summon the same feelings I have for those marching for racial justice as those marching to set aside dozens upon dozens of judges’ rulings that Joe Biden is the rightful President of the United States. Intellectually, though, if you stand for one group’s right to be processed through a criminal justice system fairly and with respect, you have to stand for the others. Because that’s the thing about rights: they extend to everyone in this country, even the people you vehemently disagree with.