For all of the wretched excess surrounding the murder investigation of O.J. Simpson, the televised court proceedings have been, heaven help us, educational.
Right now a Los Angeles municipal court judge is deciding whether there is sufficient evidence to have Simpson stand trial for the murder of his wife and a male friend. Every word and legal nuance of the preliminary hearing is subjected to scrutiny by legions of formerly anonymous law professors hired as expert commentators.
What the gavel-to-gavel coverage provides, enhanced by endlessly repeated snippets of testimony, is a healthy reminder of the magnificent minutia and tortuous tedium of legal procedure.
Variations on this theme are played out each day in courtrooms across the country, and the point of the whole dance is to defend rights while ferreting out the truth.
For all of its imperfections, our way of justice is the envy of much of the world.
