We are familiar by now with an almost ritualistic pattern that accompanies certain kinds of court cases, in which arguments over guilt and innocence are accompanied by charged confrontations about the powers of the state. Accusations that civil liberties are being abused might be countered by claims of national security; assertions of conspiracies or prejudice might be answered by invocations of privileged knowledge; and established authorities might be either distrusted or embraced.

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Émile Zola’s defense of Alfred Dreyfus is at the Yeshiva University Museum.

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Alfred Dreyfus: The Fight for Justice

So it may be difficult to grasp fully the...