Due Process Is Always Due

A recurring theme, that live hearings and cross aren't necessary for "fair" procedures.

Why is basic due process not necessary? They never say. They have nothing. It's just not. https://t.co/nZWW224xBr

— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) June 11, 2021

Before I went to seminary (i.e., when I was still practicing law) I went through a "disciplinary hearing" trying (emphasize that word) to represent my then-pastor.  This was in the same church that later ordained me.

To call the proceedings a kangaroo court is to insult kangaroos, and courts.  A witch-trial would be a more appropriate comparison.  I wasn't allowed to cross-examine witnesses, or really ask any questions at all.  I was told by the attorney for the Conference that rules approved by the UCC General Assembly didn't allow me to really do anything to represent my client.  I later found out the rules he presented me with were a proposed set that wasn't approved by the General Assembly, and so were actually null and void.

Yeah, churches are like that.

So I really couldn't represent my client, and what he got certainly had no resemblance to due process.  (To be fair, the real rules of the UCC require a much more balanced and fair process).  But I'm here to tell you, you never want to get involved in any process that might cost you something (money, job, status in a college), without as much due process as you can get your hands on.  It's the only way to help keep you from getting screwed blind.

Most people don't understand due process, and think it's just something involving lawyers and unnecessary complication and all you need is to get to the "truth."  If nothing else, watch a little "Perry Mason" (I've become a fanatic) and see how the prosecution leaps to conclusions to happily make a case against Perry's client, and Perry meticulously questions every assumption and uses due process to hold off the police and the DA until the true criminal can be revealed.  It doesn't quite work that way in real life, but it's a nice example of how important it is to have someone slow down the rush to judgment and insist on complete fairness in the investigation of what happened and who is to blame.

Especially if everyone involved thinks the person to blame is you.