MAGISTRATES AS VIGILANTES: THE ITALIAN EXAMPLE

8 9 R M A G I S T R A T E S A S V I G I L A N T E S T H E I T A L I A N E X A M P L E J O S E P H L A P A L O M B A R A Silvio Berlusconi should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. He is the only prime minister in modern history to win that o≈ce a scant four months after forming a brand new political party as the vehicle for his political ambitions. (He christened the party Forza Italia! – Go, Italy! – a name inspired by A. C. Milan, the world-class soccer team he owns.) He also controls about half of Italy’s television networks, an asset which helps account for his three remarkable electoral victories. The flamboyant Berlusconi can also claim another record: he is the first holder of such a high o≈ce ever to be publicly accused by his own wife of – and widely reported in the press as – having had sexual encounters with exotic dancers and teenaged girls. Or of holding bacchanalian feasts where scantily clad nymphs and former prime ministers were photographed cavorting in the nude on the grounds of one of his villas. And if these credentials were not enough, no head of a democratic government has ever been o≈cially accused of as many serious crimes as Berlusconi, including accounting fraud, bribery, tax evasion, perjury, embezzlement, illegal e√orts to influence judges, and collusion with the Mafia. 9 0 L A P A L O M B A R A Y By and large these accusations have led nowhere. Most of the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence before they went to trial. Statutes of limitation, one of them sponsored by the prime minister himself, took care of others. A few investigations and trials are still under way, and some may one day cause the prime minister grief if he leaves public o≈ce. Yet none of his notoriety has thus far been injurious to Berlusconi’s political career. Scandals that would almost certainly topple politicians elsewhere have had the opposite e√ect for Berlusconi. He appears to epitomize the adage that even the worst kind of publicity can be converted into political capital. Berlusconi is unusually adept at this type of alchemy. He scorns the magistrates responsible for his legal problems as rabid leftwing zealots. He claims that, aided by the press and contrary to the will of the electorate, they are hell bent on removing him from o≈ce by character assassination and judicial fiat. When The Economist displays his photograph on its cover or publishes an editorial condemning him as unfit to hold high o≈ce, Berlusconi derisively dismisses the magazine as The Ecommunist, to the delight of his millions of supporters and the fury of his detractors on the centerleft . One might interpret Berlusconi’s career as yet another demonstration that politics in Italy is mostly about theater – a unique blend of farce, grand opera, and tragicomedy – or as an extreme example of the corruption that can follow when money instead of merit determines who will occupy public o≈ce in a democratic country. My intention is di√erent. I would argue that Silvio Berlusconi is not entirely wrong or self-serving in his criticisms of Italy’s magistrates. Indeed, these public o≈cials – specifically the prosecutors and judges – whose responsibility it is to protect and defend the laws of a democratic government sometimes behave in ways that undermine it. Although abuses can occur anywhere, corrosive behavior of this kind is present in Italy in a form and on a scale that make the country sometimes appear to be as politically outré as does Silvio Berlusconi himself. Consider the following: were a magistrate in Italy to order an arrest, no criminal lawyer – no matter how skilled or well-connected – would have the power to demand the immediate release M A G I S T R A T E S A S V I G I L A N T E S 9 1 R...