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We don't begrudge Michigan's attorney general her private opinions on any subject.
But when you are the state's top attorney, publicly slamming juries and suspects who've been tried and found not guilty fundamentally erodes the very institution you represent.
It also feels like sour grapes since it is Nessel's team's responsibility to prove the charges they bring, beyond a reasonable doubt.
We understand the attorney general is heavily invested in wanting a guilty verdict. But it's extremely rare for an official at her level to criticize a jury's findings after a trial is done.
It's a rare occurrence because it can undermine our legal system.
After a month-long trial, the 18-member jury (six members dismissed randomly) found Eric Molitor, and brothers Michael and William Null not guilty of providing material support for a terrorist act and a weapons charge. This was the last of the kidnap plot cases, with just five of 10 guilty verdicts won in state or federal trials.
Nessel called the not-guilty verdict "perplexing, confusing but terrifying," said the jury was seemingly "not so concerned" about the kidnap plot, and chalked it up to a "very right-leaning county" -- negating both her team's responsibility and the civic duty shown by the jury, judge and process.
An official at her level should accept the jury's ruling with dignity. She should also accept responsibility for her department's failure to convince the jury of the evidence instead of passing on the responsibility for the outcome to a perceived political slant of any given community.
In another case, blanket comments about the "brainwashed" 16 Republican suspects in a fake elector scheme also may undercut the attorney general's actions against them.
Putting "innocent until proven guilty" baseline justice aside, a motion to dismiss the case has been filed so the attorney general's office will need to prove an intent to cheat or deceive -- now made harder by her characterization of the suspects as people who "legit" and "genuinely" believe that former President Donald Trump won the state.
She also mulled aloud about the odds in bringing these cases in Ingham County, "a very, very Democratic-leaning county."
It is imperative that political-tamper-free justice be served in all cases, especially those dealing with election fraud -- unless we want free and fair elections to fail -- something the nation can ill-afford.
Nessel made her comments, captured on video by The Detroit News, on Sept. 18 to a group called "Protectors of Equality in Government"
The irony doesn't escape us; the frustration with equality is extending it to people who don't agree with us.
But that's when it is most important.