May 10, 2025
Dear editor;
“And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide?”
This is one of the famous quotes from the classic play by Robert Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons.” The quote is relevant to something Bela “Bill” Suhayda said in his May 1, Reader’s Commentary: “Biden broke immigration laws, Trump to right wrongs.”
Specifically, Mr. Suhayda said, “The Left” wants due process and Constitutional rights for “murderers and rapists along with the millions who have entered our country illegally.” He says such a notion is “insane.”
Has Mr. Suhayda ever read “A Man for All Seasons?” It is a fictionalized historical drama about Sir Thomas More, a lawyer, and England’s Lord Chancellor during the reign of Henry VIII. The play explores the conflicts between personal beliefs and public duty. More refused to endorse King Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and refused to agree to making Henry the head of the Church of England. Ultimately, More’s integrity and insistence on following his own conscience cost him his life (and his head).
There is a passage in the play that is relevant to Mr. Suhayda’s comments. It is an argument between More and his son-in-law, William Roper, about the law:
William Roper: “So now you give the Devil benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes! I’d cut down every road in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh! And when the last law is down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat! This country is planted thick with laws, coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the benefit of law to the Devil for my own safety’s sake!”
So, Mr. Suhayda, let’s suppose the Donald Trump administration made an exception to the law; deporting immigrants without due process for the sake of speed and to reduce cost. Americans get used to the idea of not providing legal protection to immigrants, whether the government has evidence against them or not. After some time, the government decides they will not provide legal protection to another group of people (LGBTQ), so, when anyone accuses them of a crime, they are not afforded due process. This goes on and on, until very few groups are left in the U.S. who are given due process, despite it being a core guarantee of the Constitution.
And then one day, you are walking down the street and someone brings a police officer up to you and says “He’s the one that did it! He’s the one that stabbed that old man!”
You are shocked. You are innocent as can be. But you’ve been accused. Due process is no longer afforded to the likes of you (those laws now all being “flat). You look all around for help, but crowds of citizens shout “no lawyers, no courts, no trial, no evidence for him! It will cost too much, it will take too long, he’s dangerous, lock him up!”
You look around and hear the winds blow. Very few trees (laws) are left standing. They’ve been too inconvenient.
But one day, a woman comes to see you in jail. She is an attorney. Someone from “the Left.” She has heard about your plight. She knows you called her “insane” one time, but she shrugs that off. She wants to help you because she believes so strongly in principles like due process and Constitutional rights, that she will help anyone, no matter what…even you.
Colleen Feehan, (Retired attorney), Naperville