What are some examples that help prove Atticus's statement, “Our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal,”...

In Chapter 20 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus states in his closing remarks to the jury that, in the U.S., "our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal." Prior to this statement, Atticus argues that not all men are created equal in the ideological sense we would like to believe, because some are more intelligent; some are less so; some are born poor; some are born rich; and some are more or less talented, etc. However, the U.S. court system ensures equality for two different reasons.

First, the U.S. court brings all men—rich or poor—to a state of humility when charged with a crime, especially those wrongly accused. Those wrongly accused, like Tom Robinson, must rely on the judgements of others, not their own judgements, to be acquitted of their charge, and being reliant upon others fits the very definition of humility. Hence, Robinson serves as one example proving that "courts are the great levelers" since he, like all accused, had to enter the court in a state of humility. Similarly, when Atticus exposes Bob Ewell's guilt through cross-examination, Ewell is likewise brought to a state of humility.

Second, the US courts are the great equalizers because our system is based on the presumption of innocence, which asserts that a "defendant is innocent until proven guilty" ("Presumption of Innocence," Wex, Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School). Since all defendants—rich or poor—are believed to be innocent until the court can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, all men charged with a crime enter the court in an equal state of innocence. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Tom Robinson due to racial prejudices. As Scout later explains after reading Mr. Underwood's editorial, in "the secret courts of men's hearts," Robinson was always presumed to be guilty, not innocent, merely because he was African-American (Ch. 25).

While there are no examples of the presumption of innocence correctly being utilized in To Kill a Mockingbird, one can look at any U.S. court case to see the presumption of innocence playing out in favor of the accused, especially the first case that set the precedence for presumption of innocence, Coffin vs. United States in 1895.