Injustice for Sale, by Tola Adeniyi

For centuries people have talked about “Justice for Sale” or “Justice to the Highest Bidder,” but after subjecting common sayings to philosophical scrutiny I have come to the conclusion that we have all been wrong all along.
Just as I argued that “we are not born equal” and “there are no Christian names or Muslim names” or, for that matter, “no black man, no white man,” I maintain today, on my birthday, May 29, that no one buys justice.
Justice cannot be purchased and in reality no one ever buys justice. What dishonest people pay for is injustice. When one steals voter ID boxes, or cheats in an exam hall, or takes away someone else’s right and bribes a judge to declare him or her the rightful owner or winner, what that criminal has paid for is injustice.

Let us now analyze this operation with the precision it deserves.

Justice is free; The costs of injustice.

In its pure state, justice needs nothing more. It is the default alignment of truth and fairness.
If a man owns land and the court declares him the owner based on evidence, that is justice. It happens naturally. No money changes hands to make it happen. Justice is the basis.
But when the baseline is disturbed, when the truth is overturned, when the right man becomes the wrong man in the eyes of the law, something has to pay for that disturbance. That something is usually gold. Therefore, what we observe in courtrooms, ballot boxes, and the marketplace is not justice being delivered; it is justice that is corrupted. And corruption has a price.

Consider the criminal who steals your voter ID. Did not purchase the correct result (your card counted as yours). He bought the wrong result (your card counted as his). His bribe to the official caused him to deviate from reality. The once honest official becomes unjust because of the payment. Payment buys injustice. Thus, the criminal is a client of injustice. He walks out of the trade with an unfair advantage and you walk out with an unfair loss. Both are products of the same sale.

Just like in any market, the extent of what you buy depends on how much you spend. A small bribe buys a small injustice: a teacher neglects a leaflet, a regulator ignores a defective product, a policeman turns a blind eye to a petty theft. But an enormous fortune buys a colossal injustice: a dynasty tears up the history of a nation, a company declares pollution to be progress, a politician appoints a thief as king. The higher the bidder, the more injustice he can purchase. We say “justice for the highest bidder” when we should say “injustice for the highest bidder.” The rich no longer buy justice; they buy more mistakes to be declared right.

The seller of injustice is the mechanism that should provide the truth but has been lubricated with money. The judge, the election official, the examiner, the regulator: they are sellers of diversion. Their honest service is free; their dishonest service is for sale. When you pay them, you are not paying for justice to be done; you are paying for justice to be undone. You are gaining control of the truth.

For too long human language has misnamed this transaction. We say “he bought justice” when in reality he bought the unjust outcome that suited him. We say “the court sold justice” when in reality it sold a wrong verdict to the rich. This is not semantics; it’s philosophy. If we correct our words, we correct our understanding of power. The powerful do not command justice; they command injustice and pay for its implementation. The poor suffer injustice because they cannot afford to buy the wrong done to them declared right, or they cannot afford to buy the wrong done to them declared right.

Let us therefore change the market of common wisdom. Justice is not a commodity. It is a state of being that requires only truth and fairness. Injustice is the commodity. It takes money to ignore the truth. And it is sold to the highest bidder, who pays to make the wrong right and the right wrong.

On this birthday of May 29, I declare: No one buys justice. Everyone buys injustice. And the selling never stops.

*Written by me in my editorial suite to celebrate my official 81st birthday on May 29, 2026. Posted today July 4th to celebrate America’s Cheat Out Day.

The historical narrative of the Fourth of July is often centered on freedom, but for marginalized groups it historically marks events of profound injustice. Milestones include the contradiction of the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which excluded slaves, Native Americans, and women, and the 1876 Hamburg Massacre.

The Fourth of July brings with it a complex history of exclusion and systemic oppression in the United States.
Although the Declaration of Independence stated that “all men are created equal,” it was written by Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder.

Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a scathing speech in Rochester, New York, on July 5, highlighting the hypocrisy of a nation that celebrates freedom while millions remain in bondage. Douglass famously stated, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must weep.”