One of the most depressing spectacles of this MAGA/Trump moment is the terrible way our legal system’s many weaknesses have been exposed and exploited. Until the past decade, the courts essentially worked this way: if you had to go to court to answer to a criminal or a civil charge, you were assigned a judge - fairly randomly, as far as I understand - and if you had money, you hired a private attorney. If you were poor, you got a public defender: sometimes idealistic, hard working and effective, but often burnt out, over worked, and often not the best for the client.
If you were wealthy, bail was usually a thing. Most of us knew the names of those on the Supreme Court and understood that some circuits were more right-wing and unjust than others, but generally, most of us could not have named a single sitting federal judge not on SCOTUS. How things have changed.
In the case that I recall thinking would change journalism, and possibly open up the court system to billionaire abuse, the Silicon Valley billionaire, and general all around creep Peter Thiel decided he privately would fund a lawsuit against the publication Gawker. In 2016, Thiel was not happy about Gawker outing a particular few gay men, so he decided to secretly fund a lawsuit for a wrestler named Hulk Hogan - and make sure that his funding caused Gawker to tank. He was successful.
At this time, many publications are suffering this same fate - Trumpers sue them for reporting the truth. For example, right now, a no.
