I caught Alan Dershowitz defending Martha Stewart on ABC tv this morning. Most Americans who pay any attention at all to the news of her trial think she is being charged with insider trading. She is not. She is accused of asserting her innocence to federal prosecutors who accused her of insider trading. She is on trial for allegedly lying about her innocence.
Think about that. The Constituton supposedly gives us the presumption of innocence. A federal bureaucrat shows up and says, in effect, "We haven't defined insider trading yet, Mrs. Stewart, but we think you're guilty of it and should go to prison for it." Marth says "I'm innocent" and for that she's prosecuted.
Dershowittz was right on the money when he announced on ABC, "This is like the Soviet Union!"
