Racial Framing and Policy Justice
Beneath technical disputes over sentencing and drug policy runs a persistent ethical insistence that racial disparities must shape the debate. Toby and allies push to center systemic injustice when others prefer neutral data or electoral safety, creating friction that exposes how moral framing can be sidelined by tactic‑oriented politics.
Events Exemplifying This Theme
Leo pulls the senior staff to an off‑record patio meeting to corral a risky drug‑policy push. Toby frames treatment over enforcement; Sam presses the mandatory‑minimums fight; Leo insists on a …
In the President's bedroom after a bruising day, Bartlet quietly steadies his shaken senior staff. Leo voices unease about championing drug‑policy reform given his recovery; Bartlet reframes Leo's experience as …
Late at night in the President's bedroom Bartlet soothes anxieties and forces forward motion: Leo confesses unease about revealing his rehab, C.J. sheepishly apologizes for a press gaffe and is …