Enoch makes a mockery of justice system

In the good old days when you could rely on the Bible to come up with solutions to any sort of damnable problem. Life was simple. Take for instance the insoluble problem that was presented to King Solomon, who was also judge, jury and executioner when it came to sorting out the law. These two women came before him with a baby and each claimed to be the lawful mother. They asked Solomon to sort it out. In these days of DNA testing it would be simple to sort the matter out but in Solomon’s time it was not so straightforward. Neither woman would concede her right to the child so Solomon decided that he would cut the baby in two and give each of the litigants a half of the child.

One of the women hailed Solomon for his wisdom while the second screeched at the thought of her baby being cut in two and told Solomon to desist in his threat. She could not see her baby cut in two. The case was clear, Solomon decided to award custody of the child to the mother who objected to the dissection of the baby. He judged she was the rightful birth mother and dismissed the other claimant. And they all went home happy that justice had been served. Well perhaps one of the claimants was not all that happy but I never heard what subsequently happened to her. Perhaps she smouldered at the slight inflicted upon her and came to no good.

We don’t have any modern-day Solomon on the bench today and so we see the farce of Enoch Burke being repeatedly jailed by a variety of our esteemed legal eagles for contempt of court. Now Enoch, who is a bit of a legal eagle himself and is a decidedly stubborn customer whose beliefs are based loosely on the kind of logic that would have guided Solomon, refuses to accept that he is in contempt but is, rather, incarcerated for his religious beliefs.

An increasing number of people in the country are, understandably enough, siding with Enoch. Some very genuine people would offer Enoch their support but there is also a hodge podge of people with a wide variety of axes to grind who jump on Enoch’s bandwagon for no other reason than to try to advance their own perceived injustices at the hands of society. They could not care less about Enoch.

I don’t have much sympathy for judges. They are exceedingly well paid to make judgements on the cases before them. They probably are genuine people with a genuine belief in their ability to make correct decisions but, as we all know, judges are not popes who, speaking ex cathedra, cannot err. They are human. They can err, they do err and that is why we have this richly-paying merry-go-round of district, circuit, high, appeals, special and supreme courts funded (via FLAC in many case), by the long suffering taxpayer. The problem for the judges is that their much lauded justice system does not work when confronted by an Enoch Burke.

Enoch has an unshakeable belief that he is right and that he is in jail because of his religious beliefs and his refusal to refer to a transgender person by the pronoun 'they'. We have ridiculous laws and laws which bring the justice system into disrepute. This law that requires people to refer to him/her as they is one of them. The legislature has a lot to answer for. Apart from any adherence to religious beliefs, any injunction to refer to him/her as 'they' plays puck with commonsense, not to mention the nonsense it makes of the English, or, for that matter, Irish language.

But the law is the law and I cannot see our legislators in any frenzy to change it. So the judges are left with the insoluble Solomon-like problem, which is: how do you solve a problem like Enoch. How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? 

Perhaps if we had Rodgers and Hammerstein they might come up with a solution, but, in the meantime, our humble well paid judges are left floundering with nothing but the sledgehammer of contempt to crack the nut that is Enoch. (That is a metaphor and not to be taken as meaning that Enoch is a nut in the sense of being a little off his rocker. He is anything but.)

The reality of our so-called system of justice is that it quite simply breaks down when confronted by an Enoch Burke. The only recourse judges have when confronted by a recalcitrant petitioner is the law of contempt. Justice does not work without the remedy of jail for people who do not accept a judge’s ruling. Enoch Burke is not by any means the first to be jailed for contempt and he won’t be the last.

There is in fact a real danger that the growing number of people who seem prepared to protest before the courts in support of Enoch could find themselves in contempt and end up in jail. If they have even a modicum of Enoch’s commitment to his belief, then the jails, already at breaking point, could become impossible to manage. In that scenario the judges might be pleased with themselves for having done their duty but what about the governors of our jails who have a duty to find space where none exists?

Governments generally employ the sledgehammer approach when confronted by the nut. Take a look at our friends across the water where they are now led by a so-called socialist and social justice reformer, Sir St St Starmer. There’s people in the UK who take exception to the genocide that’s going on in Gaza. Under the umbrella of Palestine Action they protested against the Israeli government’s killing fields. Palestine Action were banned as a terrorist organisation because they caused damage to some property and in particular a French-owned facility in Scotland that is involved in the manufacture of military equipment.

That facility denies supplying military equipment to Israel. Well, they would, wouldn’t they? Damage to property is a no-no in the UK, just as it is here. So the government employed the sledge hammer and now they are confronted by the issue of hunger strikes in their jails. Could something similar happen here? Nah! Unlikely. We don’t have a tradition of hunger strikes here except, of course. in exceptional circumstances and only if the Brits are involved.

Our legislators are wary of having anything to do with Enoch. In fact they are afraid to have anything to do with him. While his case continues to make a mockery of our justice system they don’t have any solution. The only solution is jail. That is clearly the solution that Jim O’Callaghan believes in. He has to believe in it and support it, because he does not have the wit to come up with something better. And, of course, as well as being the Minister for Justice, he is a legal eagle himself. So he is unlikely to do anything that might discommode his judges and the legal practitioners.

Briefly 

And so, briefly, to matters more pleasing. Andy Moran’s reign as Mayo senior team manager got off to a flying start in Pearse Stadium with the league win over Galway. Andy and Padraig Joyce played down the significance of the outcome. Both teams were short of what the pundits might regard as their championship starters.

But, for Andy Moran, in particular, this was a significant win. There’s no love lost when it comes to old rivals squaring off against one another. Padraig Joyce put a brave face on it, but make no mistake, he was hurting. So, it’s one up to Andy. There’s a long way to go in this league which, looking at the opposition, will be a true test of the team. The two points secured in Galway (and almost thrown away) might well define Andy’s reign.

Down with those who proclaim Mayo for Sam.

Thought for the day

I have heard it said that thought is free.

Adapted to suit Shakespeare’s 'Twelfth Night'.