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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 8, 2023

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Yes, I am sure that, had he won, underdogs the world over would have rejoiced that the system works.

Why would they? Being railroaded into a trial where your innocence is impossible to disprove because it's about something that happened 30 years ago is the system failing. If that happens and he's found not guilty, that's the system still failing, just not as badly.

In order for the system to not have failed, New York would have had to not have extended the statute of limitations at all (especially since it was done specifically to get Trump).

Perhaps, but OP's claim was not that Trump was treated unjustly, but that underdogs, can't win. A very different claim.

He didn't say that underdogs can't win, he said that the rules don't lead to the underdog winning. I would agree that this is true when the rule is "no statute of limitations". There's really no way to win with this rule; the results are losing badly or losing but not too badly.

And even if you think being found innocent after a trial that never should have happened is a "win", it's a win despite the rule, not because of it.

I would agree that this is true when the rule is "no statute of limitations". There's really no way to win with this rule; the results are losing badly or losing but not too badly.

I don't understand what you mean. First, if someone loses, then someone wins. Why the loser in this situation would be the underdog is not particularly clear to me. One would think that anything that makes it hard to sue, including statutes of limitations, would benefit the overdog, not the underdog, because the justice system is the only method that the underdog has to hold overdogs to account. Underdogs, by definition, don't have economic or political power.

Nor is it clear to me why you think that limiting the statute of limitations guarantees that the plaintiff will win. The plaintiff has the burden of proof, after all.

First, if someone loses, then someone wins.

This isn't true on a practical level. You can have a lawsuit where both parties end up worse off, even if there's a winner in the sense "the lawyers get paid".

justice system is the only method that the underdog has to hold overdogs to account.

The justice system is a double edged sword and can be used to hurt the underdog as well as help. Ideally it would not, but we don't have an ideal one.

You can have a lawsuit where both parties end up worse off, even if there's a winner in the sense

But that was clearly not what you were referring to.

The justice system is a double edged sword and can be used to hurt the underdog as well as help.

No one said otherwise. Nevertheless, as noted, the overdog has many other weapons at his disposal, while the underdog has but one. Hence, rules making lawsuits more difficult to bring tend to harm the underdog more. That is particularly true re statutes of limitations, since overdogs are more likely to have access to, or ability to uncover, evidence of wrongdoing that forms the basis of the lawsuit, and are also more able to retain legal counsel.

But that was clearly not what you were referring to.

It's exactly what I was referring to. If Trump had won the lawsuit, that's still a loss, just not as big a loss. His accuser loses too. Both sides lose.

Hence, rules making lawsuits more difficult to bring tend to harm the underdog more.

That's true because you hedged it with the word "tend".

Rules that make it hard to bring lawsuits help underdogs who get sued. It doesn't matter how much money Trump has, having to bring evidence about what he did 30 years ago is not something he can use money for. It's fundamentally unfair to the person getting sued and is why we normally have statutes of limitations.

That's true because you hedged it with the word "tend".

This is merely a claim that there are no rules that always help only one group. That goes without saying.

As I said, the overdog has many other weapons at his disposal, while the underdog has but one.

It's fundamentally unfair to the person getting sued and is why we normally have statutes of limitations.

No one said otherwise.

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