Let’s Take a Closer Look at That Huawei Arrest

When you grow up in the U.S., and then devote your career to writing about domestic corporations, you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the rule of law, or why it matters. It’s like the air you breathe — you just assume it’s always going to be there.

Yes, the U.S. legal system has plenty of flaws, but you could always count on companies accused of wrongdoing getting their day in court. The government might try to block a merger, but the rationale was invariably based on its interpretation of antitrust law, not on a president’s disapproval. When a corporate executive was accused of a crime, it was because prosecutors had legitimate reasons to believe the executive did something illegal.