The mask is slipping, and everyone feels it. A country built on courtroom myths and civics-class promises is now staring at the possibility that

Each procedural choice will either reinforce the idea that institutions can self-correct, or confirm that they only pretend to when it’s safe.

Citizens will carry the final verdict in their private beliefs.

If they see a system that endures pressure and still applies rules to the powerful,

trust may not fully return, but it can be rebuilt. If they watch excuses, double standards,

and performative outrage replace real accountability, something more fragile than any statute will break.

A nation can survive corruption; it cannot easily survive the quiet, shared certainty that justice was always negotiable.