Canon Lawyer Pete Vere Disagrees on Bishop Bruskewitz Controversy

Canon Lawyer Pete Vere backs Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz in his objections to the USCCB audit:

Now the tone of the good Bishop's letter is admittedly a tad combative, but this is more a matter of pastoral theology than canon law.

That being said, Peters appears to overlook the principles of canon law (and in this case the Divine law) that the Bishop is trying to uphold. The first is a very fundamental principle of natural justice: Every accused has the right to face his accuser.
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Secondly, it is a matter of the Divine law that Christ instituted His Church as a hierarchy. Within this hierarchy, laypeople submit to Bishops, not Bishops to laypeople.
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Here is a third issue. Does Bishop Bruskewitz deny, in the words attributed to him, that the national review board and its derivatives have any standing under canon law? While his words admittedly appear to be those of understatement, ridicule and scorn, it seems to me that the answer is no when one looks at the actual words he uses.
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See more details about the case and Canon Lawyer Ed Peters' take on the situation on April 1 on this web page.

Lots of discussion on Amy Welborn's Open Book.