South African Constitutional Court's Courageous Decision

South Africa's Constitutional Court recently took bold action to uphold the rule of law and its constitutional principles. South Africa has a young constitution, ratified in 1994 after the fall of Apartheid. Sadly, during nine years in office a corrupt president abused his power, thumbed his nose at the constitution, and stole millions from the South African Treasury--a brutal and heartless outrage against the legacy of Nelson Mandela. In passing sentence, the majority judgment referred extensively to the “calculated and insidious” attacks on the rule of law by President Zuma. The final paragraph of the substantive part of Justice Khampepe’s judgment was sweeping in its rebuke:

"Quantifying Mr Zuma’s egregious conduct is an impossible task. So, I am compelled to ask the question: what will it take for the punishment imposed on Mr Zuma to vindicate this Court’s authority and the rule of law? In other words, the focus must be on what kind of sentence will demonstrate that orders made by a court must be obeyed and, to Mr Zuma, that his contempt and contumacy is rebukeable in the strongest sense. With this in mind then, I order an unsuspended sentence of imprisonment of 15 months. I do so in the knowledge that this cannot properly capture the damage that Mr Zuma has done to the dignity and integrity of the judicial system of a democratic and constitutional nation. He owes this sentence in respect of violating not only this Court, nor even just the sanctity of the Judiciary, but to the nation he once promised to lead and to the Constitution he once vowed to uphold."

Perhaps the US Senate and our own SCOTUS have lessons to learn in upholding the rule of law from the courage exhibited by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.