John Edwards Mugs for Mug Shot

Thursday, 16 June 2011 | by Pat's Picks

I have no idea what he’s smiling about but there he is, John Edwards, positively beaming in a mug shot released today by North Carolina police. He was indicted last week on charges that he used illegal campaign donations to hide his relationship with Rielle Hunter, charges the Washington Post says legal experts have called “unprecedented” and “weak.”

Steve Simpson, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice, pens a opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning to that effect. He says although we might think what Edwards did is reprehensible—cheating on his dying wife; using campaign donors to cover up an affair—doesn’t mean he was on the wrong side of the law. After all “being a creep is not illegal.”

Here’s the side view, in case you wanted to check out that haircut: