While Justice Sleeps

by Stacey Abrams

He felt equally dismissive of willful ignorance—his description of the modern press—and smug stupidity, his bon mot for politicians.

“Knowing the law isn’t about the school. It’s about the mind. The heart. About understanding what the law intends as much as reading beneath what it says. Knowing how to find one’s way to the truth.”

Americans are greedy, brilliant, ambitious, and compassionate. We like to remind everyone about our genius, and yet our leaders make fun of smart people. In less than two centuries, we took over more than half a continent, placed a man on the moon, and invented the Clapper. I enjoyed the contrasts.”

“A nation of favor and folly, one might say. Where justice is known but rarely seen.