Distractions

Never mind being a criminal, just don’t be a distraction

The unfair distractions surrounding the nominations of some of the people Mr Trump would like to form part of his administration are revealing some interesting propositions in law.

1. Having sex twice with a 17-year-old (which, if proved in a US court of law, results in a conviction for statutory rape, a heavy prison sentence, and the label paedophile for the rest of your life) is not an automatic bar to becoming a government officeholder; it does not oblige the candidate to withdraw his candidacy (nay, even preclude his candidacy being considered); on the contrary, it is the unfair distraction that such an offence gives rise to that obliges the candidate to withdraw.

   Therefore a candidate who is a paedophile is an honourable person to try to access high office in the government of the US, unless, that is, the offence causes an unfair distraction. Whether a paedophile’s candidacy should be passed when the distraction caused by it is fair is not yet clear.

   In short, an act of paedophilia does not preclude a person from seeking high office in the US government. But unfair distractions do.