Americans Have Less Access to Justice than Botswanans … And Are More Abused By Police than Kazakhstanis

Justice is a key value for Americans. After all, one of our key mottoes is: “Liberty and justice for all”. But the World Justice Project – a bipartisan, independent group with honorary chairs including Supreme Court Justices Kennedy, Breyer, Ginsberg and O’Connor – just released a report saying that Americans have less access to justice than most wealthy countries …  and many developing nations. The group’s “World Justice Index” ranks countries’ faithfulness to the rule of law based upon 9 factors (we’re paraphrasing so that they’re easier to  understand): 1. Whether there are checks and balances on the power of government officials 2. Absence of corruption 3. Order and security 4. Due process, freedom of speech and other fundamental rights, 5. Transparency of government operation 6. Due process in regul...