A VERY BAD TREND IS DEVELOPING

Last year the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman’s falsely reassuring and misleading statements of safety after the September 11, 2001 attacks were “without question conscience-shocking.” The court also found the facts “support an allegation of a violation of the substantive due process right to be free from official government policies that increase the risk of bodily harm” by Whitman’s misstatements regarding the air quality of the affected area.


But this past April the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that she could not be held liable for her actions.


The appeals court went on to say legal remedies are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance.


Today District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein dismissed the case brought by 9/11 family members seeking to have remains relocated from the Fresh Kills Landfill.


Even though evidence was presented that showed that the Department of Sanitation acted improperly the judge stated that there were no city laws that require the burying of debris in another location because THE CITY “ACTED RESPONSIBLY” IN BRINGING ABOUT A “SWIFT AND EFFICIENT RECOVERY FROM THE TERRORISTS’ ATTACK”


The judge said not every wrong can be addressed through the judicial process, but that he's open for discussion if both sides want to hash out a settlement.


So let’s see how this works.


According to our current Judicial System an agent of the government can publically lie and risk causing bodily harm to the general population but cannot be held responsible.


Also human remains that were removed from a crime scene can be allowed to remain forever in a landfill because not every wrong can be addressed through the Judicial System.


To both these judges I leave the words of Lois McMaster Bujold


“The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them.”


And we ask Judge Hellerstein in particular how he explains the fact that we are still finding remains if the city “acted responsibly” in bringing about a “swift and efficient recovery”


But what could we expect from a judge who describes potential remains as debris?


All that we know for sure is that in regards to 9/11 a very bad trend is developing.


Dennis


“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong”.


Teddy Roosevelt