The acquittal of two of the four suspects in the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping-plot case is one of those events that lends itself to unfortunate overinterpretation.
The acquittal does not mean that the men did not do anything wrong, or even that they did not do what they are accused of; still less does it mean that the entire episode was, as some sympathizers say, a case of federal entrapment; nor does this mean, as some other critics charge, that the government is soft on right-wing violence or on political violence perpetrated by white people.
All this means is that the prosecution failed to prove its case to the satisfaction of the jury. That’s it. This happens pretty often.
A jury trial is an act of republican faith — a faith that is not always and everywhere obviously justified. But it has, by and large, worked pretty well for a long time, and arguably it is the most direct exercise in self-government that we undertake. Self-government requires understanding and accepting that you won’t always get what you want — an understanding that appears to be in dangerous decline.
There is an unfortunate vogue for vilifying lawyers who represent unpopular clients, most recently demonstrated by Republican senators who should know better. But a trial without a vigorous defense isn’t a trial at all — it is a lynching. So is a trial without the possibility of acquittal.