For those who use words like “justice” and “righteousness” without contemplating their relativity, anticipate the non-stop flogging of the prosecution of George Zimmerman as if it’s this generation’s O.J.  As  Charles Blow (who I just learned is a fencing parent) writes:

Americans saw the anguish of the boy’s father and the tears of his mother. America saw a child who was its own. America saw its concept of basic fairness sinking in to the marsh of miscarried justice.

So America rose up. Thousands marched in the streets. Millions signed petitions online. Hearts poured out for justice to rain down.

This is a moment when America should be proud. The wheels of justice are finally turning. The State of Florida has taken up the cause of the dead boy. His life is no more, but his legacy will live forever.

Because there aren’t any other instances of “injustice” to be had in our otherwise justice-loving nation where our concept of basic fairness isn’t sinking into a march of miscarried justice waiting for justice to rain down.

Or as Jon Stewart’s cadre of “reporters” announced in ZimDecision 2012, this will be the  trial of the millennium. 

The pressure for lawyers to become embroiled in this case is already incredible, and has claimed some otherwise serious thinkers.   Jonathan Turley (who I recently learned is a fencing parent) wrote of Zimmerman’s arrest:

The second degree murder charge of George Zimmerman has received widespread approval. I am in Fort Worth to speak to the Fort Worth Lecture Foundation this afternoon. However, I am receiving a lot of calls on the basis for the charge. I must confess that I am not optimistic on the chances of a conviction unless the special prosecutor has undisclosed evidence to meet the high standard under the state law.  As I discussed on BBC last night, there are substantial challenges to make such a charge stick in this case.

How he finds time to pick out new ties to wear on television, I don’t know.   Walter Olson has taken the Zimmerman aggregator route, where the concept of Overlawyered has never been so well chosen. Lawprof Dan Markel at  PrawfsBlawg has taken the “I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies” route of opining while
disclaiming sufficient knowledge to offer an opinion worth spit so that nobody can ever say he was wrong.

My old pal Andy McCarthy at the  National Review agrees with  Alan Dershowitz (who is available for comment, if anybody asks) that the Zimmerman Affidavit (not to be confused with the Zimmerman telegram) is “stunningly weak,” all rhetoric with no substance.  As Andy claims, he has 20 years of experience with such matters, and he knows all rhetoric with no substance when he sees it.

Even Ken at Popehat (who is not a fencing parent, but could be someday), the last guy around to hop on the bandwagon of transitory pop legal issues, made time to take the leap.

I’m in a rush, but I can’t avoid commenting on the affidavit of probable cause submitted in the matter of George Zimmerman’s shooting of Trayvon Martin.

It’s a piece of crap…

This is not the worst affidavit I’ve ever seen — but it’s damn close, and the decision to proceed based on it in such a high-profile case is stunning.

What all these guys know is that the life of the affidavit is about twelve seconds, sufficient to get past the preliminary probable cause determination, after which it is meaningless. But that’s from the lawyer’s perspective. Charles Blow found the affidavit “chilling.”

On Thursday, Zimmerman appeared in a Florida courtroom, and Corey released a simple but chilling affidavit for probable cause that painted a disturbing portrait of Zimmerman as a man who “profiled,” “followed” and “confronted” the boy.

Empty rhetoric is in the eyes of the beholder, just like justice.  Just like the need to jump on the bandwagon of the latest case of the millennium.  Who wants to be the guy who misses out on this generation’s O.J.?

To the extent the killing of Trayvon Martin will be turned into a litmus test of race, it’s already there.  Sides have been chosen and those vested in the issue see it with absolute clarity, facts and confusion notwithstanding.  To the extent it’s a litmus test of the legal system, whether one supports the notion that the system should serve to satisfy the demand of the public for “justice” rather than apply dispassionate reason, it’s already too muddied with lousy police work, conflicted bias, media mythology and embedded posturing to provide much of a lesson.

But the aspect of this case that most fascinates me is that otherwise fine legal minds, the sort of folks who wouldn’t angle for a chance to argue with Nancy Grace on GMA about whether an inadvertent burp by Zimmerman’s lawyer’s paralegal’s cousin suggests that prosecutor Angela Corey has overcharged in order to coerce a plea.

There are plenty of cases out there, many involving racial concerns and the failure of the legal system to function as rational people might expect, and they are crying out for recognition because somebody got burned and no one cares. 

But instead, we can look forward to Zim-mania, and the illumination of absolutely nothing except how no lawyer wants to miss another O.J. opportunity. 

As lawyers are lining up in Florida to offer their special insight to the media in exchange for spelling their names correctly on the screen and a supermarket-bought danish in the green room, and as lawprofs prepare to commit murder of their own on as many words as they can type before their fingers turn bloody and cold, maybe someone will look in the mirror and wonder whether this makes the public more knowledgeable about the law or stupider. Don’t make people stupider.

Charles Blow comes to his views naturally, and is entitled to paint flowers around what he believes to be “justice” and “righteousness.”  Even if he does nothing more than fuel the passion of the mob, he doesn’t pretend to do anything else. There may be legally interesting aspects of this case from time to time, worthy of some thought and writing, or the blawgosphere can become all Zimmerman, all the time.  And maybe it will get you a gig on TV and make you a household name, after which you can be rich and famous.

Best of luck with that.