The US administration and its officials should look at their own actions and policies, before speaking about India.
Despite strong objections from India, the US administration recently issued statements regarding serious allegations of corruption and financial wrongdoing against Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, for the Enforcement Department taking him into custody in a liquor excise case. The statements also criticized the legal proceedings against Rahul Gandhi’s Congress by the Income Tax Department as unjustified. Similarly, a faction of lawyers supporting these political parties attempted to protest within the court premises, raising questions about the credibility of the entire judiciary. On the other hand, internationally renowned lawyers like Harish Salve and around 600 others urged Chief Justice Chandrachud of the Supreme Court to take action against such lawyers and political organizations for disrespecting the judiciary.
A public debate on this issue during the election season is natural. However, the American administration and its officials should look at their own actions and policies. According to a recent report from an international legal institution, Americans’ trust in the US Supreme Court has reached a new low in the past two years, with only about 40% expressing confidence in their courts. The Supreme Court has also adopted a voluntary code of ethics in view of several controversies over judges benefiting from lavish gifts and travel.
According to a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg Law, federal judges faced 311 serious threats in 2022, which is more than 178 in 2019. Currently, the FBI and the Denver Police in Colorado are investigating threats against Supreme Court justices who ruled that Trump was ineligible for voting. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “We are witnessing a deep and troubling increase in threats against those who serve the public.” The Justice Department recently investigated individuals for making violent threats against election workers, members of Congress and the military, FBI agents, and federal judges, including a Supreme Court justice.
American criminal and civil legal systems are ranked third among 142 countries, but there has been a decline in the overall justice delivery of the country due to poor performance on various standards. This includes both criminal justice and civil justice, where America ranks 109th and 124th, respectively, and access to and capacity of civil justice, where America is 115th out of 142. The American score is below average in terms of access to and capacity of civil justice in high-income countries and at the global level.
According to the AP-NORC survey, when it comes to trust in the integrity of power transfers, the United States currently ranks 37th out of 142 countries in the WJP Rule of Law Index, a 10% decrease from 2016. In the presidential election, some government officials refused to comply with the law and certify the election results, and a review of 2023 by ProPublica found that in most cases, these officials did not face any accountability. Nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center’s Senior Vice President Paul M. Smith says, “But these days, my primary concern is the strategic use of violence and threats of violence to disrupt democratic processes.”
“These can take many forms. We already have threats against state secretaries and other election officials. I can imagine efforts to prevent people from voting and disrupt vote-counting processes. It’s all very worrisome.” A recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 23% of Americans now believe that “saving our country may require taking violent actions by true American patriots.”
Despite Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results and dozens of futile legal challenges, Donald Trump, the Republican leader, still disputes the results, with 64% of Republicans still disputing the outcome. So, what if Biden is declared the winner in 2024 and Trump again rejects the results? In 2024, federal and state courts are considering 91 allegations against former President Trump, and the Supreme Court will decide on controversial cases involving abortion drugs, Second Amendment rights, and regulatory overreach. There are many ways in which the Supreme Court could become involved in the 2024 election results.
Elizabeth Anderson, Executive Director of the World Justice Project, says, “Voluntary compliance with the law is fundamental to maintaining the rule of law within any community.” “When confidence in the courts is eroded, people are more likely to disrespect judicial decisions or resort to threats, coercion, and violence to resolve their disputes.”
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, D.Y. Chandrachud has received a letter from leading lawyers across the country. In this context, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also targeted the Congress party. He said, “Intimidating and threatening others is an old tradition of the Congress. Nearly 50 years ago, the Congress shamelessly exposed its selfishness to the world.” PM Modi alleged that the Congress party does not want to be committed to the country in any way. Reposting the letter from well-known lawyers on social media platform X, the Prime Minister wrote, “Five decades ago, the Congress party called for a ‘committed judiciary’. They (Congress) want commitment from others for their own selfish interests, but the Congress party shies away from commitment to the nation. It’s no wonder that 140 crore Indians are rejecting them.”
More than 600 lawyers wrote to the Chief Justice, saying that a special group is trying to exert pressure on judicial decisions, especially in cases involving politicians or allegations of corruption. The letter states that their activities pose a threat to the country’s democratic foundations and confidence in the judicial process. These allegations certainly have merit, as opposition lawyers continuously file petitions and make allegations in the media against the credibility of the judiciary when defending corrupt or other crimes of party leaders, and then attempt to become MPs from influential states of the party in question, and even try to become Law Ministers. It is essential, in this regard, that the Indian judiciary firmly controls anti-Indian activities to protect the strong roots of Indian democracy and the faith of millions of people.