Thoughts on Due Process by Bonnie Taylor May 15th, 2025

Constitution guarantees due process for everyone Donald Trump is a criminal and has been for years. It’s not news. It’s not a surprise. It’s not a secret. Everybody knows it. He’s cheated the government, cheated banks, cheated investors, cheated on wives. We’ve all heard it from him and from court testimony. Each of us could make a very long list of his public lies. He’s been convicted in court by a jury of 34 felonies and is therefore a criminal. The right to due process is the only one covered twice in the U.S. Constitution, in the 14th Amendment regarding procedural protections, individual rights and fundamental rights not enumerated elsewhere, and in the Fifth Amendment, which deals with only federal issues. Procedural due process concerns the procedures that the government must follow before it deprives an individual of life, liberty, or property, and requires at a minimum: notice, an opportunity to be heard and an impartial tribunal. We know this as equal protection under the law. The Republican-majority Supreme Court recently acknowledged this principle. Approvingly quoting from a prior precedent on the matter, it said just last month, “It is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law” in the context of removal proceedings. Since Jan. 20, 2025, a number of people have been kidnapped from American streets and deported or disappeared without a hint of due process because Donald Trump doesn’t like them. His minions have followed his orders to do it. He is guilty of kidnapping everyone of them. Their guilt or innocence has nothing to do with it because in America, everyone has the right to equal protection under the law. Each of us must be charged and tried for our alleged crimes and have an opportunity to be heard before a jury, which will determine our guilt or innocence based on facts rather than on somebody’s opinion. We must continue to resist the lawlessness of Donald Trump while we still can.