For Prager, the Law Is a Blunt Instrument

I read with great amusement Dennis Prager’s ravings directed toward lawyers and the American legal system (Commentary, Aug. 9). We are all very much aware that immoral and even unethical lawyers exist. Thankfully, that is not the case with radio talk show hosts!

Prager suggests that people accused of crimes do not deserve a vigorous defense. That a lawyer who uses the law to get his or her client acquitted is immoral or has committed some social infidelity, particularly when Prager has predetermined guilt or innocence. Prager wrongly assumes that the vast majority of juries are not bright enough to send a woman who catches a baseball with her teeth and her silly lawyer packing if their case has no merit. Nor, it seems, has Prager entertained the notion that maybe there is more to this incident than was reported.

The American legal system, although not perfect, works. Few serious criminals slip through the cracks, and most frivolous lawsuits are thrown out long before they reach the jury. I can only hope that if Prager is ever in need of legal assistance, he has the telephone number of his plumber close at hand.

Michael D. Wilkins

Newport Beach

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I realize that Prager is a fictional character invented by the staff of the editorial pages to stir things up on a slow day, but he is really not persuasive. A pretended authority on moral questions, even a comical one, would be more careful about his terms. For example, crime is a legal concept, not a moral one, and criminals are simply people convicted of crimes. To have Prager criticize a “trial lawyer who has figured out a legal way to get a violent criminal acquitted” is silly on its face, even if he is supposed to mean someone who has been judged criminal in the past. That sort of sloppiness takes the fun out of parodies.

Edgar Schell

Irvine