Due Process Isn’t Optional: Why Every American Should Be Screaming This From the Rooftops
Let’s get one thing straight right from the start: due process is not a suggestion. It’s not a courtesy extended to the innocent or a loophole for the guilty. It’s the law. It’s the backbone of a free society. It’s what separates democracy from dictatorship.
Due process is what protects you, me, and every single person in this country from having our lives upended based on accusation alone. It is not a luxury or a delay tactic. It is the very structure that holds justice together.
The framers of our Constitution knew what they were doing when they wrote the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. They lived in a world where kings threw people in dungeons without a trial. They saw what happened when power went unchecked. So they drew a hard line: government must follow fair legal procedures before it can take away a person’s life, liberty, or property. That’s not up for debate. It’s the promise.
Whether someone is loved or hated, whether they’re guilty or innocent, whether they’re powerful or powerless, the rules stay the same. And when we ignore that, we’re not upholding justice, we’re destroying it.
We have to stop confusing outrage with evidence. Anger is not proof. Social media is not a courtroom. And presidents, especially one like Trump, who fans the flames of division every chance he gets, do not get to decide who deserves rights and who doesn’t. Due process isn’t about what you think someone did. It’s about whether the facts and the law can prove it. That’s what protects all of us. If we start cutting corners because we don’t like someone, we’ve already lost the plot.
Here’s the problem. Too many people today think they’re judge, jury, and executioner just because they’ve read a headline or watched a clip. They hear someone’s been accused and say, “Well, look what he did. He should be locked up.” Or worse, “He should be flown to another country and dumped in a cell.”
That’s not justice. That’s a mob. And mobs don’t care about facts. They care about vengeance. If we start treating due process like an inconvenience, we’re inviting tyranny in through the front door. It might feel satisfying when it’s used against someone you hate. But what happens when the tables turn?
Let me remind you what happens when due process gets thrown out the window. Remember the Central Park Five? Five young men, all Black or Latino, accused of a brutal crime with no physical evidence. The system failed them, the media crucified them, and Donald Trump took out full-page ads calling for their execution. Years later, DNA cleared them and the real attacker confessed. But the damage was already done. Their youth stolen. Their names tarnished.
Think about Richard Jewell. A security guard who spotted a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics and helped save lives, only to be labeled a suspect by the FBI and shredded by the press. No charges. No trial. Just assumption and humiliation. He died before the public ever fully understood how wrong they’d been when the real bomber was convicted years later
And Amanda Knox. A young American student trapped in a nightmare abroad. A sloppy investigation, a media frenzy more interested in headlines than truth, and years spent in an Italian prison for a murder she didn’t commit. Eventually exonerated, but forever changed.
These aren’t ancient history. These are the stories of our neighbors, our kids, our fellow Americans. And they show just how fast things can spiral when people in power, or with a platform, decide due process is optional.
So when you hear someone say, “He’s guilty, just look at him,” or “We don’t need a trial, we need justice now,” stop them. Ask them what happens when the wrong person gets blamed. Ask them how they’d feel if it were their child. Remind them that our system is supposed to be built on facts, not feelings. Remind them that protecting due process doesn’t mean protecting the guilty. It means protecting the truth.
And yes, we need to say this out loud. Because we have a president right now who has made a career of blaming others, dodging accountability, and attacking the very idea of legal fairness. From trying to strip immigrants of basic rights to suggesting political enemies should be jailed without trial, Trump is chipping away at the foundation of our democracy. He doesn't care about the Constitution. He cares about control. And if we stay quiet, we let him redefine what justice means in America.
I’m a lawyer, and I’m telling you: this moment we’re living through is dangerous. The law can only hold if the people demand it holds. If we shrug off violations today, we’re laying the groundwork for a country none of us will recognize tomorrow. One where power decides who gets rights, and where being accused is the same as being condemned.
Here’s what I want you to remember, and to pass along:
1. Due process isn’t about protecting the guilty, it’s about protecting the innocent from being steamrolled. If we abandon it when it's inconvenient, we’re handing raw power to whoever yells the loudest.
2. Facts come before fury. Emotion may start the conversation, but only evidence can finish it, and that’s what due process demands.
3. Being accused isn’t the same as being guilty. That’s not a technicality, it’s the entire point of a free society.
4. If it can happen to the Central Park Five, Richard Jewell, or Amanda Knox—it can happen to your kid, your neighbor, or you. The justice system isn’t just for “other people.” It's for all of us.
5. When we defend due process, we defend democracy. And if we don’t fight for it now, we may not get to vote, speak, or even live freely later.
Say it at your dinner table. Say it at work. Say it on social media. Teach it to your kids. Shout it from the rooftops. Due process isn’t just a legal term. It’s our last line of defense against chaos.
Because when the law becomes a weapon instead of a shield, none of us are safe, and if we don’t stand up for due process now, we might not get another chance.
Mitch Jackson, Esq. | links
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8 min audio about due process I recorded during this afternoon's run. https://open.substack.com/pub/mitchthelawyer/p/discussing-due-process-on-a-sunday?r=2fe7t3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false