“Conservative” columnist Matt Vespa has written an essay about the sad state of “due process” at many modern government universities. Of course, colleges operated by the government are supposedly bound by basic constitutional rules of procedural fairness. The Constitution forbids stage agencies and enterprises from depriving anyone of “life, liberty or property” without due process.
As Dr. Roots has shown, an adversarial justice system–with judges acting as impartial, unbiased referees, even-handed rules of evidence, opportunities to confront accusers, etc.–is a fundamental part of any free society. However, most governments tend to degenerate into inquisitorial “justice” systems, where judges are partial to governmental powers.
Vespa points to a number of public campus proceedings where students are punished and exiled upon the flimsiest pretenses, where accused people have no right to put on a defense or confront accusers, etc.
