Daily Herald opinion: Whatever our political differences on Trump, legal issues will be sorted out in the justice system

This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

We hear it often said in these contentious times that no person is above the law. Regardless of his or her station in life or political beliefs, every person is subject to the rules of justice we have laid out according to our democratic processes and common values.

With a former U.S. president now facing criminal indictments in three separate federal or state cases - and perhaps only days or weeks away from a fourth -, it is an important time to remember that while no one is above the law, so is no one beneath it.

Whether politics has "weaponized" the justice system in order to weaken the former president - a strategy that, if true, is backfiring dramatically - or the primary election process is being "weaponized" to help the candidate leverage inadequate but passionate support to regain power remains a question open to debate. But regardless of the political considerations, the justice system will play out according to only one consideration - evidence, and the assessment of it by a jury selected with the active involvement of both the accused and the accusers.

In a fraught political climate, it is too easy to forget this important distinction.

The justification for the legal issues facing former President Donald Trump is a topic for political debate, but the ultimate determination of whether the cases should be brought - as with every other of thousands of criminal and civil legal disputes argued in courtrooms across the country every day - will come from either negotiations between the disputing parties or the judgment of an independent panel they selected together. Every defendant and every plaintiff in every courtroom believes he or she is unfairly or improperly accused. Ultimately, it is the courtroom, a bastion of justice built, imperfectly though it may be, with the intent of being as impervious to weaponization as possible, where any question of justification will be settled.

We know only too well that it is not an infallible system. But it has served us well for two and a half centuries. At its core, it certifies what it means to be American and stands as the ultimate protector of our democracy.

The legal issues descending on Trump cannot help but ignite passions among both his supporters and his detractors, and the political debates they generate are a natural and appropriate outcome. But it is critical that we keep those debates relegated to the realm of politics, waiting to be decided at their appropriate place, the ballot box.

And that we remember the legal questions also have their appropriate place, which likewise demands our respect and our appreciation, the indifferent courtroom.