Opinion: Americans won’t have faith in the rule of law until the law works for them

For too many Americans, the economy has become an unaffordable racket in which corporate interests seem always to have their way. This increases the disaffection that many Americans have with our democracy and the rule of law. It is hard to blame people for losing faith in a legal system that has allowed the powerful to trample their rights with impunity.

The good news is that many key protections — against fraud, wage theft, junk fees, abuses of monopoly power, union busting, corporate pollution, discrimination and much more — already exist. But a yawning gap has emerged between what the law promises and what it delivers. In our work, we’ve seen how a system of elite impunity has become the norm in the marketplace — a direct consequence of the underfunding of government agencies charged