IF WE’RE HOLDING TRIALS UNDER THREAT OF RIOT, ISN’T THAT “INSURRECTION?” Minneapolis courthouse turned into fortress for George Floyd murder trial. Pretty sure it would be if roles were reversed here.

Much more from Scott Johnson. “The charges against Chauvin were brought in a lynch mob atmosphere led by Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. They publicly pronounced Chauvin and the other officers guilty many times over last spring and summer. Those of us who took up law and/or journalism may have been inspired by Atticus Finch or John Adams or Woodward and Bernstein, but when the time came to face down the mob and talk back to the authorities, the lawyers and the press took their places in the crowd. . . . The prospect of a fair trial in this atmosphere seems incredibly remote. We remain one step removed from the territory of The Ox-Bow Incident.”

To be fair, Atticus Finch has since been retconned as a rape apologist.