I was having a conversation with an attorney whose law firm specializes in an niche area of law.  And while she seemed to sympathize with the difficulty I'm experiencing in locating the right kind of attorney (she referred me to 3) and I honestly didn't detect any sarcasm or meanness when she said it, she nonetheless offered the opinion that the reality is that we're each only entitled to the amount of justice that we can afford.

When I was I child I remember flipping through one of the many magazines my parents subscribed to which included Ebony and Jet so I don't remember which magazine contained the cartoon I found that gave me pause, but considering it's probably close to 50 years later, it obviously made an impact upon my young mind.

The cartoon was of a group of African American students standing with their hands over their hearts and reciting the 'Pledge of Allegiance' but they all had a look of dismay on their faces.  Apparently this was due to them having to recite the final line whom someone had apparently adjusted to their reality to read "...with liberty and justice for some".

 I didn't initially understand that being an officer of the court is like being a member of this big club.  I've been before a judge at least 5 times in the last year and I couldn't help but notice that the judge's demeanor changes when talking to the attorneys, as opposed to talking to me, the Plaintiff.  They tell jokes (Attorney: You know what Shakespeare says don't you?  Judge:  No, what does Shakespeare say?  Attorney:  That we're going to kill all of the lawyers first ha ha ha).  Another Judge was almost giddy when she realized that the petitioner before her was an attorney whom apparently has appeared before her in the past.  Still she was very nice and gracious to me.  Then there's the Judge and opposing attorney discussing "the fighting Irish" and other "guy" things that made it very apparent that he had no use for me, and just how little I was soon to discover.

I heard someone once say that religion was created to keep the poor from killing the rich. That doesn't seem like much of a stretch from where I'm sitting.  I've also seen written "There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo. Please use in that order." It is often quoted by conservative groups that oppose gun control.^[

I am not advocating revolution, I'm simply curious about what others would feel and say if someone advised them that because of their impoverished state that they weren't entitled to any justice even when confronted with the evidence of an appalling and unprecedented violation of the person's rights.  Because certainly, from a practical point of view, a box or even a case of ammunition is cheaper than the several thousand of dollars to retain an attorney or the ten to hundreds of  thousands of dollars to bring a lawsuit, particularly when instead of justice you get a second reaming courtesy of the Court and it's officers (and I use that term very loosely).

I'm already working on my response to all of them but any additional thoughts or POVs would be appreciated.

And in keeping this to a current news story, I'll interject Donald Fuller's story here
Conviction Tossed For Man Who Claimed Malicious Prosecution

Note:  Text corrected & modified on 11/24/12 @ 1:29 a.m.