Michael Phillips

When Procedure Becomes Punishment

By Michael Phillips | People’s Law Review

Courts insist they are neutral arbiters — forums where rules ensure fairness, not weapons that decide outcomes in advance.

But for many people, especially those without counsel, procedure itself becomes the punishment.

Not because the law requires it.
Because discretion is being misused.

How Process Turns Into Pressure

Procedural rules are meant to organize justice.
In practice, they are increasingly used to exhaust, coerce, and silence.

This pattern appears again and again across courts:

Excessive Continuances

Delays that stretch months or years, often benefiting the party with more resources.
Time becomes leverage. Fatigue becomes strategy.

Silent Denials

Motions denied without explanation.
No findings. No reasoning. No record to challenge on appeal.

When courts refuse to explain themselves, accountability disappears.

One-Sided Enforcement

Deadlines strictly enforced against one party and casually waived for the other.
Rules become optional — but only for insiders.

Discovery as Harassment

Broad, invasive, or irrelevant discovery requests used not to find truth, but to drain energy, money, and focus.

Compliance becomes impossible. Noncompliance becomes punishable.

Delay as Coercion

Justice postponed until people give up, settle unfairly, or collapse under pressure.

Delay is not neutral.
Delay decides cases.

The Myth of “Just Following the Rules”

Courts often defend these practices with a familiar refrain:

“That’s just how it works.”

But procedure is not self-executing.
People apply rules. People choose how rigidly, when, and against whom.

Selective enforcement is not neutrality.
Unexplained rulings are not efficiency.
Silence is not impartiality.

Who Is Hit the Hardest

Procedural punishment falls most heavily on:

  • Self-represented litigants
  • Disabled individuals seeking accommodations
  • Parents in custody disputes
  • Tenants, debtors, and low-income parties
  • Anyone without time, money, or institutional familiarity

These are not fringe cases.
They are the majority of people who pass through modern courts.

Why This Is a Due Process Issue

Due process is not just about final outcomes.
It is about how decisions are made.

When:

  • Rules are enforced unevenly
  • Orders appear without reasoning
  • Records fail to reflect reality
  • Delay becomes a tactic

The process itself becomes punitive — even before a ruling is issued.

That is not justice.
That is administrative harm.

Procedure Should Protect — Not Punish

Courts do not lose legitimacy because people criticize outcomes.
They lose legitimacy when process is weaponized.

Procedure should:

  • Clarify, not confuse
  • Equalize, not advantage
  • Resolve, not exhaust

When it does the opposite, it must be examined — publicly and without apology.

What People’s Law Review Is Documenting

We are not litigating cases.
We are reviewing records, patterns, and systems.

We look at:

  • Docket behavior
  • Procedural inconsistencies
  • Administrative silence
  • Structural incentives that reward delay and imbalance

Because when procedure becomes punishment, the harm is systemic — not personal.

A Final Question

If justice requires endless endurance,
if rights depend on stamina,
and if silence replaces explanation —

Then who, exactly, is the system serving?

People’s Law Review exists to ask that question — and to publish the record when the answers don’t add up.

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