Scorched Worth

The problems with America's criminal-justice system have been covered extensively in newspapers, magazines, and books. But little, if anything, has been written or said about a uniquely odious form of sanctioned corruption: government agencies maliciously suing individuals and companies. The motive is usually cost recovery. For the prosecuting lawyers, lawsuits that bring in money to the treasury (some of which gets kicked back to the prosecuting department) are a fast track to promotion and prestige. But the motive may also be personaljealousy, envy, even a lawyer's warped sense of social justice. More often than we suspect, these suits are perversions of justice. With unlimited budgets and the awesome power of the state behind them, government lawyers are unconstrained by either statute or case law that would compel them under penalty of sanctions or disbarment to drop unjust suits. True, there are established ethical standards to which they've sworn...